All of This Past
by staceums
Summary: Sequel to "Sound of a Trembling Heart." Events were set in motion long ago that cannot be undone. The Sorceress Wars triggered a cascade of actions that would soon dictate everyone's fate. The SeeDs must now confront their true destiny. Valete, liberi...diebus fatalibus. Seifer x Quistis, canon pairings.
1. Prologue

**_Author's Note and Disclaimer:_** The characters in this fanfic belong to Square(Soft)-Enix and the makers of _Final Fantasy VIII._ The ideas are entirely my own but I'm sure others have thought of the same plots and written similar fics, but it was NOT my intention to plagiarize anyone in any way, shape, or form.

Please keep in mind that this is a fanfic. Feedback and constructive criticism is encouraged about my _**writing**_, however, not about my _**ideas**_. If you don't like what I put in here, don't ask me to change anything. You have the power to write about it yourself. And that doesn't mean by plagiarizing.

The following story is a sequel to "Sound of a Trembling Heart." For more information, please visit my profile page.

* * *

"_Can't stop what's coming,_

_Can't stop what is on its way…_

_And now I speak to you, are you in there?_

_You have her face and her eyes, but you are not her…"_

("_Bells for Her"_ by Tori Amos)

* * *

**_Prologue_**

The whispers came softly at first, as if the speaker was trying to utter a secret, then they disappeared. None of the words made sense as the whispers echoed in and out, somewhat distant, like riding on the wind. Slowly but surely they started to trail closer and closer, and the whispers formed a sentence.

_You can't change the past._

They came faster now, and somewhat louder. The echoes bounced off of nothing and returned back to remind whoever was listening, now more urgent…

_You can't change the past._

Sharper and louder, they had started to repeat, over and over, faster and faster, until it was no longer a secret, but a harsh reality. Scary. Dominant. A thousand whispers came all at once, overlapping each other, coming one after another, not making any sense, tearing and cutting and hissing louder and louder, but in fleeting seconds; they all carried the same message.

_You can't change the past. You can't change the past. You can't change the past. You can't change the past. You can't change the past. You can't change the past. You can't change the past. You can't change the past. You can't change the past. You can't change the past you can't change the past you can't change the past you can't change the pastYOUCAN'TCHANGETHEPASTYOUCAN'TCHANGETHEPAST-_

Squall shot up, immediately torn from sleep.

Silence.

Beads of sweat had collected on his face and he was breathing frantically. He blinked, swallowed, then blinked again.

_What…?_

His heart was pounding, and he was more alert than normal. The ominous effects of the dream lingered. It had been a long time since he'd had any nightmares, but something seemed…off. He glanced over at Rinoa, who was still sleeping soundly at his side.

She hadn't budged. She looked so peaceful. His movement hadn't stirred her, and she continued to breathe softly, unaware of anything that was going on next to her. He felt a swell of relief that she was all right.

But he couldn't shake that feeling…

He swallowed and glanced towards the hallway leading into his sitting room. Without even thinking, he threw off the covers and walked towards the door and glanced at the monitor.

Nothing.

He put an ear against the door.

Silence.

For reasons he couldn't understand or explain, he still couldn't shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong. Something had roused him. All of them. He glanced back towards the bedroom, but Rinoa was still sleeping. He pressed a button and the door slid open, and he stepped out onto the cold floor outside.

The quad.

He walked out of the room, barefoot, ignoring the fact that he was still clothed in boxer shorts and a white t-shirt. He glanced back towards the end of the hallway, but saw and heard no one. He glanced towards the quad and started to walk down the corridor. The icy feeling in his stomach clenched tighter when he saw them.

Zell, Selphie, Irvine, Quistis, and Seifer were already gathered there in the middle of the quad, groggily glancing around, looking ashen. Quistis, dressed in pajama pants and a tank top, had her arms crossed and stood close to Seifer, who was wearing a pair of warm-up pants over his boxers with no shirt. Irvine, still in his boxers, had his arm around Selphie, who was dressed in a little white slip. Zell had a pair of board shorts on. They all looked concerned and confused. Squall had just joined them. They glanced up at him nervously, but said nothing. Eventually, Zell was the first to step up and speak.

"Okay…what the fuck was that?"


	2. INTERVIGILUM

**_"Nothing here will be the same_**

**_Every bit is as big as nature_**

**_Our limited capacities_**

**_Give us trouble to comprehend..."_**

(_Kingdom of Heaven _by Epica)

* * *

The roughed out cave extended deep into the mountains and seemed to never end. Undisturbed, the dark, brown, raw ore sparkled slightly with different variations of rocks and minerals, simply waiting to be excavated for practical use. The mine, however, was empty. The cold, dark void had been evacuated at least three days prior and no life form had entered since to admire the cave's magnificence.

A pale, blinding flashlight suddenly appeared around a corner and swept the area for visuals. A dark figure stepped around the bend and inspected the cave.

Nothing. All was quiet.

The raw ore crunched softly under the figure's feet as it slowly progressed forward with calculated steps. Dozens more flashlights appeared behind the leader, and more figures appeared out of the dark void to inspect the mine.

The team, clad in all black, suited up for combat, protected by heavy Kevlar, and wearing tiny earbuds with a small microphone that curved around their cheek, swept the perimeter quietly and waited for further instructions. The flashlights were attached to the tops of multipurpose rifles and the team was poised for an attack, if necessary. Nobody spoke for a long moment until the leader progressed further into the mine.

The light created moving shadows everywhere. Jutting rocks caused visual obstructions and more shadows.

"Check your corners," the leader, identified by his SeeD rank - the letter "A" - stitched above a red cross on the arm of his uniform, murmured to the team. "Don't get sloppy or I'll fucking shoot you myself. I don't want to wake up an entire colony of whatever the fuck's down here."

The troopers silently obeyed and tactfully inspected cracks and roughed out caverns that stemmed from the main cave corridor.

The leader licked his top lip, which was beginning to bead with sweat, and suppressed an aggravated sigh. All the equipment and body armor didn't help with comfort, obviously, but… Weren't caves supposed to be balls fucking cold?

"Stop."

The team halted.

"Is anyone else hot down here?"

There was a hesitant pause behind him. Finally, one cadet answered.

"Yes, sir. The temperature seems to be hotter than normal."

"Someone give me the reading."

A beep was heard and another cadet answered. "Thirty-one degrees Celsius, sir. That's at least fifteen degrees warmer than the surface."

The leader narrowed his eyes. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Perhaps we're closer to the center than we expected," a cadet suggested. "Or maybe we're near a hot gas pocket?"

"There's no way we're that deep," the leader replied gruffly. "How many feet down are we?"

Another beep rung out. "Almost a hundred and fifty-eight, sir."

"That ain't shit. Atmospheric composition?"

"Still safe. 77.42% nitrogen, 19.83% oxygen, trace levels of argon, but a slight increase in carbon dioxide and humidity. Water vapor levels have risen."

"Hmph. At least it's a dry heat," the leader mumbled sarcastically.

Nobody responded, waiting for further orders.

The leader stared ahead, down the dark cave corridor. He gritted his teeth. "Let's move."

They continued their sweep, heading deeper and deeper into the mine, yet found nothing. The miners had been meticulous in their cutting and excavation, and the team had a relatively easy time navigating through the black void without getting lost. It was one simple corridor instead of branching off into many, of which the leader was thankful for.

A soft beep rang out and the group stopped.

"What is it?" the leader turned his head towards them.

"Methane, sir. Levels are spiking."

…_Methane? _"You just said that the atmosphere was safe."

"It is, sir…but…it's not…uniform…it's coming and going."

"A pocket, then?"

"Not a pocket…something close, though…"

"I'm also picking up some magic activity, sir," a second cadet warned.

"Are we near a draw point?"

The cadet shook his head. "No, sir. The magic flow doesn't seem to be coming from the earth. It seems to be…I'm…not sure. It's concentrated…but…the signal is too weak to pinpoint…"

Suddenly, in an earsplitting explosion, rocks and dust erupted out of the side wall in a burst of smoke, peppering the soldiers with pebbles and larger stones. Dust swirled everywhere and blocked their vision as the soldiers cried out in surprise, the flashlights dodging around frantically and bouncing off the walls of the cave.

"FUCK!" the leader swore loudly. "Scan! Someone fucking cast Scan!"

There was a short pause. Rocks still tumbled off of the wall, but nothing further happened. The soldiers half expected something to pop out of the wall, but all grew quiet besides a few soldiers coughing.

"I'm not picking up on anything, sir!"

"Neither am I! Nothing's showing up on radar!"

"Nothing at all?"

"That's affirmative, sir. Nothing."

The leader slung his gun over his shoulder angrily and barked into his mouthpiece, "Alpha team, what the fuck? Stop blasting!"

"_Say again, Knight Leader?"_ A response radioed back.

"Uh, we're in here, remember!" he snapped. Rocks were still falling sporadically from the ceiling and crumbling sounds could be heard throughout the cave. "Didn't you just fire a fucking grenade at the wall?"

"_Negative, Knight. What's going on?"_

"Where the hell are you? What's your position?"

"_We're southwest, like I said we'd be. Where are you?"_

"That couldn't have been the Alpha team, sir," a cadet waved the thick dust away and glanced down at a small pad strapped to his arm, looking at a blue dot and a red dot. "We're east of the entrance and they're in the opposite direction."

The leader grit his teeth and barked into the microphone, "Did you tell the Shumi to stop mining - "

A loud, rumbling roar interrupted his sentence, then all was silent. The troopers froze in place and they all pointed their guns towards the large hole, even though the lights reflected nothing but thick dust. A few rocks tumbled out of the wall and from the ceiling.

"What was that?" a soldier hissed.

"Are you fucking dead-ass sure nothing is showing up on Scan?" the leader hissed.

The cadets double-checked. "Positive, sir. Absolutely nothing."

"_Knight, do you copy? Knight, what's your status?"_

"Hyne dammit," the leader grumbled. A creature resistant to Scan was going to be a bitch to handle. "Hold your positions. Arm your pulse rifles and check your junctions. I think we've found it."

"_Knight, come in!"_

"Can't talk right now, Alpha," the leader cooed into the mic. "Gotta date with a fat nasty."

"_Say again? Do you have a visual? Hynedammit, Knight Leader, talk to me."_

The leader coughed and waved a hand through the air. "Can anyone see anything?"

The responses came sporadically throughout the cave.

"No, sir."

"Nothing but rock and dust, sir."

"Infrared isn't picking up anything, Knight Leader."

"Still nothing with Scan, sir."

"Here's the hole, sir." A soldier closest to the leader's flank motioned his weapon towards the blast zone. "It almost looks like another roughed-out cave further down."

The leader coughed again and leaned forward, not wanting to get too close to the new opening. There was a deep hole leading down towards what looked like a burrow, which had been hidden by all the rock and ore. Whatever was down there had sensed them – either by sound, smell, or vibrations in the ground – and it must've fired a warning shot. Straight through a cave wall.

_Awesome._

"Well, looks like we've found its lair," he sighed nonchalantly. "Someone launch a BB gas grenade down there and see what it does _- _"

He was cut off as a plume of fire suddenly shot out of the hole and spread across the cave ceiling, causing the SeeDs to immediately cry out and drop to the ground, shielding themselves from the licking flames.

"_Fuck!_ Fuckin' _shit!_" he swore. "Shell, hynedammit, shell! _Now!_"

A SeeD immediately complied and the troopers were protected against additional burns as the pink forcefield spread across the cave floor. The flames were gone only after a few seconds, but the leader was already beginning to sweat. Swamp ass and sooty, soiled air was not what he had in mind.

With a growl, he stood back up, muttering and swearing about SeeD rookies and babysitting. "Fuck a bunch of this. We can't fight down here."

"Sir?"

"It's too cramped, and that _thing_ – whatever it is – obviously knows we're here. We need to get to higher ground and lure it out." Seifer Almasy pressed his earbud and spoke into the mic. "Alpha Leader, this is Knight Leader. Talk dirty to me."

Squall Leonhart's annoyed voice replied on the other end. _"Knight, what the hell is going on?"_

"We're packing it up. Meet me in the Shumi village, near the lift," he answered. "We've found it."

"_Roger that,"_ came the gruff reply.

"Are we going above ground, sir?" a SeeD asked him.

"Yeah. We can't do shit down here. We're a walking buffet." Seifer signaled to the troops, but swore once he realized that nobody could see him through the thick dust. Instead, he barked, "SeeDs!"

"Sir!" came the unanimous reply.

"Load it up! We're headed topside."

**_. . ._**

The two teams had assembled around the elevator entrance of the underground Shumi Village, waiting for further orders. Some were sitting down, wiping soot and dirt away from their faces, some were exchanging water canteens, and some were simply standing patiently. There were about twenty SeeDs and candidate cadets total.

Seifer met up with Squall at the outskirts of the village on the top of the hill. Squall acknowledged him with a curt nod.

Seifer removed his gloves, plucked off his earpiece, and sighed in annoyance.

"Remind me why we have to do this again?"

Squall pulled off his gloves and wiped the soot from his brow. "It was a request from the Shumi. Seems like they've had monster trouble."

"What, a baby Moomba finally went ape-shit on 'em?"

Squall rolled his eyes. "The Shumi don't know what it is. Something big. Something that can burrow, and it's messing up their mines. They're afraid that it'll reproduce and destroy their entire mining colony down below. Probably some sort of hybrid from the Lunar Cry."

"Yeah, but why do _we_ have to take care of it? This is a waste of time for us. You should've sent the rookies out here for a bug hunt."

Squall sighed. "It's not that simple."

Seifer glanced at him. "…They're forking up huge gil for this, aren't they?"

Squall gave him a curt nod. "Not only that, but they've promised to help us find Norg, wherever he is, so he can be properly prosecuted and tossed in confinement."

"So Cid sent us in to please the tribe, eh?"

"Not Cid. It was my decision. Besides…" Squall sighed. "We owe the Shumi tribe master. He helped us out a while back, during the Second Sorceress War. I want to repay the favor."

Seifer snorted. "Politics. Suckin' dick and gettin' dirty…gotta love it."

"What are _you_ complaining about? You're the one that caused the monster surge in the first place."

"Oh, fuck you."

Squall chuckled, knowing he'd get a rile out of Seifer after mentioning the Lunar Cry. After a long pause, he chewed the inside of his lip and sighed.

Seifer took a swig of water and handed the canteen to Squall. He nodded and took a drink, then handed it back.

There was an extremely long pause. Seifer was thinking about what to do about the new toy they'd found underground, and Squall was busy thinking about something else. Not that those two were constantly engaged in conversation, but Seifer had noticed that Squall had been quieter than usual – if that was even possible – for the past few weeks. He glanced at him.

"What's on your mind?"

Squall glanced at him. "…Nothing. Just…stuff."

"Out with it, Pueby."

Squall shrugged. "It's just that there hasn't been much of a problem with the monsters until now. Why the sudden spike?"

Seifer shrugged. "Just a fluke. Maybe it's breeding season. Maybe it's the weather. Who the fuck knows?"

"Yeah, but…" Squall trailed off.

"You're just being paranoid, Puebs," Seifer replied nonchalantly. He knew that Squall had always been on edge, ever since time compression and vanquishing Ultimecia, simply because of Rinoa. She possessed abilities that nobody else in the world was known to have, and it made him nervous.

Who wouldn't be?

Seifer liked Rinoa enough to put up with her bubbly attitude. He also thought of Squall as a brother, and he understood that he loved Rinoa, regardless of the circumstances. Because Squall cared for Rinoa, Seifer respected her a bit more.

But that didn't stop him from sleeping with Hyperion propped up next to the bed, nor did he ever go anywhere unjunctioned, regardless of the rules. Rinoa was a sweet girl – but she was still a sorceress, and he'd do what was necessary if Squall couldn't. After his experience with Ultimecia, he wasn't going to take any chances.

Rinoa was always an unspoken tension between Squall and Seifer. Squall wanted to protect her, but Seifer wanted to keep a sharp eye on her. They kept the conversation about Rinoa down to a bare minimum, if at all, lest a gigantic argument ensue. Seifer believed that she should be quarantined for her own good. Squall would die before that happened.

Even though they were teammates, they never did see eye-to-eye on that particular subject.

However, whenever Squall got concerned or thought too much – especially on a mission – Seifer took it upon himself to quell the emotions he knew that were building, even though he was just as wary.

"There's no surge," Seifer continued. "It's just a coincidence that monsters have been popping up in populated areas. It's bound to happen. Once they colonize an area and consume the natural resources, they'll move. They're just starting to move where there's people 'cause they've got nowhere else to go, that's all."

Squall eyed him, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. "That sounded a lot like Quistis-talk."

Seifer narrowed his eyes. "All I'm sayin' is that as long as SeeD's there to wipe 'em out, what's the fucking problem?"

Squall faced the open air and sighed. "Yeah. I don't know. You're probably right."

There was another long pause. Squall glanced over at Seifer. After the mention of Quistis's name, Seifer's mood had immediately turned sour. He was glaring out at the scenery ahead of him, eyes narrowed.

Evidently they hadn't reconciled yet.

"You know…" Squall began with a weak shrug. "It's…not really her fault."

Seifer glanced at him from out of the corner of his eye, but said nothing.

There was another long stretch of silence.

_Rinoa always wanted to help save the world,_ Squall mused. _Nothing would change that. Her choice was…inevitable, I guess. She would have made her own decision regardless of what we said or thought. Quistis didn't really do anything wrong. She was just trying to help her. If Cid and Edea support them, then…I guess… I suppose…if Rinoa really does want to be a part of Garden, then who better to train her than Quistis?_

"You should forgive her," Squall finally said in a low voice. "…I have."

Seifer set his jaw. "With all due respect, _Alpha_," he replied in a flat tone, "mind your own fucking business."

Squall sighed and remained silent.

After a while, Seifer forced Quistis out of his mind and narrowed his eyes in thought as he stared out towards the Shumi village stretched ahead of them.

"So, what's this big plan you have?" Squall finally asked. "How are we going to kill this thing?"

Seifer rubbed his chin. "Where's all the light coming from?"

"…What?"

"We're underground. That can't be real sunlight."

Squall glanced up and squinted. "I don't know…but I wouldn't be surprised if it was coming from some special stone. They've got stones down here representing elements…like fire, water, wind, and earth. Maybe the rock up there is what's emitting the light."

"What about that noise?"

Squall narrowed his eyes at him. "What noise?"

"Just listen."

Squall paused for a minute. At first, all he could hear was water trickling from a stream nearby…then a few murmurs of SeeDs and cadets behind him…but then he did hear something. A faint hum. Something low. Almost guttural. It wasn't quite music, but it wasn't unpleasant, either. Faint tinkling and chiming could be heard, as well. Sometimes the hum would break, as if words were being spoken, but the monotonous tone never changed.

"…It sounds like prayer," Squall finally replied.

"You mean like chanting?"

"Yeah. The Shumi must be doing it somewhere in the village. They were also doing that above ground, remember? Around that draw point."

Seifer slowly nodded. "Yeah."

Squall glanced at him. "Why?"

Seifer shrugged. "Just a feeling. I don't think the monster likes that shit."

"What do you mean?"

"Our sensors didn't pick up a _thing_ until we got deep enough," Seifer replied. "Even then, we weren't visible. But it attacked us through a _wall_. It must've heard us, or felt our vibrations as we walked, or something. It couldn't see us, that's for damn sure. I have a hunch that our monster doesn't like sound. That singing, or humming, or whatever the fuck it is," Seifer motioned towards the village, "must be agitating it. Same with the mining. Vibrations in the rock. Maybe that's why there've been attacks lately."

"Okay. So…what would you suggest we do, then? Sing to it?"

Seifer grinned at Squall. "I figured 'Stayin' Alive' would be appropriate, don't you think?"

"Hyne. Seriously, Almasy."

"What? It'd definitely make the monster want to kill itself."

"If we lure it out by creating enough vibrations in the rock, or enough noise, that could backfire," Squall pointed out, ignoring him. "We could piss it off, and then it would tear up this entire village and kill the villagers."

"That's why we need to lure it out of the ground altogether, _away_ from the village."

"Topside?"

"Yep."

"How?"

"Noise and vibrations, like you said. We're going to start blowing the crap out of the mountain adjacent to here."

"What if it just burrows further underground to get away from the noise?"

Seifer shrugged. "Then we're up shit creek without a paddle."

Squall rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "I appreciate how professional you're being about this."

"Look, Leonhart, just trust me on this. I don't think it'll burrow further underground because it's obviously territorial. It's pissed off and it wants us gone, and so if we start agitating it, I think it'll come up to kill us."

"Hrm." Squall paused and looked around. "We'll have to map out this exact area so we don't accidentally blow a hole over this village."

"I've already got someone on it. We'll do it a few miles away."

"Just what exactly are we dealing with here?" Squall asked. "Did you see it?"

Seifer shook his head. "No, but I heard it. It sounded big, whatever it was. And it breathes fire."

"Dragon descent?"

"Maybe. But, last I checked, dragons didn't fucking burrow."

Squall set his jaw. "It's been years since I've dealt with anything that burrowed underground, and I've never encountered anything that could burrow _and_ breathe fire."

"Same here." Seifer suddenly wished Quistis was with them. She'd probably know what they were up against. He felt a pang of remorse coupled with a swell of sudden longing, but then quickly buried the feelings, forcing himself to focus. He was still pissed off at her, after all.

"Well, we know it goes by sound, not by sight," Squall crossed his arms. "It's capable of digging out large quantities of ore, so it's strong. Large claws, maybe…" He glanced at Seifer. "Did you notice any excretions in the burrow?"

"Look at you, trying to be all smart."

"Just answer the question."

"No. No slime. It's not an excreter, so it's not a worm."

"Not poisonous, then."

"Well…you never know. These fucking hybrids are sneaky bastards."

"Capable of magic?"

"Uh, yeah. The thing shot fire at me. It probably thrives in hot temperatures, which is probably another reason why it wants to get so damn deep underground."

Squall nodded. "Okay. Well, at least we'll have plenty advantages topside if we manage to get it out. It's bright and it's cold out there, so our monster will be vulnerable once it's exposed."

Seifer turned towards the two teams mingling by the elevator. "SEEDS!"

They all stopped talking, dropped what they were doing, and stood at rigid attention.

"We're going above the surface," Seifer informed them loudly. "Gather your shit and meet outside the Shumi entrance, near our transports. Stand by until further orders."

They immediately responded by replying unanimously, "Yes, sir!" and shuffled towards the entrance, picking up their gear and waiting for the elevator.

"What are we going to do with the Shumi?" Squall slung his pulse rifle over his shoulder and motioned to the large village. "There are too many down here, and if that thing doesn't come topside…if it emerges in here instead..."

"You're the Shumi kiss-ass," Seifer shrugged. "Go talk to the elder and make him evacuate them."

"That isn't going to be easy, Seifer - "

"Puberty, they've got a _major_ problem under their feet, and the only way of extracting that fucking thing is to get it out from its hiding spot," Seifer replied in a low voice. "We can't fight it in _there_," he motioned to the large cave, "and we obviously can't fight it _here_. If the Shumi elder wants his people to be breakfast, lunch, and dinner for this damn thing, fine. We can all go home. If not, you should _advise_ him to evacuate until we've confirmed a kill."

Squall gritted his teeth. After a pause, he ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Fine. Take the teams up and I'll follow you shortly."

Seifer motioned to an explosives specialist. "Talk to the Shumi miners around here and see if you can't get us some of their blasting equipment. We're going to need - "

"They don't use blasting equipment," Squall called over his shoulder as he walked down the path towards the Shumi elder's hut.

Seifer blinked. "They don't?"

The SeeD explosives specialist cleared his throat. "Er…no, sir. They use manual labor."

Seifer raised an eyebrow and glanced around the gigantic village in surprise. "Damn."

"We have plenty of explosives topside, sir, which I can gather and have ready by the time both teams assemble at base camp."

Seifer glanced at him. "Good. Go."

The SeeD saluted and entered the lift with a group of other SeeDs.

Seifer glanced at the gathered SeeD teams and gritted his teeth in exasperation. The shitty thing about being cluttered down here, underground, in an old-fashioned-ass Shumi village, was that there was only one lift small enough to cram maybe seven people in at a time. The lift took a good minute to go up and another minute to come back down. He pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head. He almost snorted in contempt.

_SeeD peacekeepers, at your service. Packing enough firepower to blow evil nasties to kingdom come. Highly trained in combat and covert-operations missions. We exist to keep you safe. Waiting in line to save you, one elevator at a time._

Fucking Shumi.

**_. . ._**

Once the SeeDs were assembled, the area was mapped out, and the charges were laid, all they had to do was start blasting and wait patiently. Unlike the brisk-but-tolerable temperature down below ground in the Shumi village, it was much colder in the wet, snowy atmosphere above, especially since the icy wind and moist air blew down the mountains into the valley they were in now. Even though the wind blew relentlessly, Seifer was thankful that it wasn't extremely dry, bitter or bone-chilling, like it usually was in Trabia. In addition, visibility was relatively high since there was no blizzard and they could see up the rocky mountain they were about to blow.

Hopefully the plan would work.

Squall's small motorized transport, a snow mobile-like contraption, finally arrived at the scene and he dismounted, looking slightly agitated. Seifer stepped up to him and crossed his arms.

"So? Where are all the Shumi?"

Squall emitted a frustrated sigh and shrugged in defeat. "They're not coming."

Seifer curled a lip. "Huh?"

"The Shumi elder said that if their fate is to die, then they must freely accept that fate."

"Fate has nothing to do with it. They're just in a bad fucking spot right now."

Squall shrugged.

Seifer narrowed his eyes. "So, just like that, huh? If they die, they die? Didn't you do anything to try to convince him otherwise?"

Squall set his jaw. "You don't know the elder like I do. He's pretty set in his ways. There wasn't anything I could say to change his mind."

Seifer rolled his eyes and shook his head, letting out an agitated sigh. "Someone get over to the Shumi entrance and babysit," he groaned at the SeeD bystanders. "I don't care who it is, just go. Report anything that pops up."

Two SeeDs volunteered and left on a snow mobile.

"Let's get this shit overwith." Seifer motioned to the bomb squad. "Let her loose!"

The bombing had commenced – not enough to really destroy the mountain, but enough to definitely make noise and vibrations – as charges embedded within the rock were set off, one by one. Sometimes, the bomb squad would unleash a series of explosions, almost like large firecrackers, around the base of the cliff, but small, intermittent booms were enough to get the job done.

At least, they had hoped so.

A half hour into blasting there was still no sign of the creature.

At one point in time, Seifer began drawing obscene stick figures in the snow with his gunblade and pointed at them to Squall. Squall crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

Forty-five minutes into it, Seifer held up a hand for them to stop. "How many more charges you got?"

"We're almost out, sir. We probably have about ten more to blow before we'll have to lay more around the perimeter."

Seifer and Squall exchanged glances.

"I don't think this is going to work," Squall said.

"Radio the Shumi base," Seifer instructed a cadet. "They still there?"

After a pause, the cadet nodded after listening to his earbud. "Says there's no activity. The Shumi are fine."

"Well, shiat," Seifer groaned. "Any bright ideas, fearless leader?"

Squall pinched the bridge of his nose with a gloved hand and was about to reply when they felt a vibration under their feet.

The SeeDs looked around.

Silence.

Seifer glanced at the bomb squad. "Blast one."

The SeeD complied and pressed a button. Far off, on the cliffside, a small pop caused dust and rock to spray out and fall down slowly towards the ground. There was a long pause.

Another rumble.

Seifer grinned at Squall. "Ho-_ho!_ You feel that?"

More rumbling, this time stronger.

"Everyone, get ready," Squall instructed. The SeeDs immediately complied and took their places. Seifer instructed the bomb specialist to set off another one, which he did.

"Here, fishy fishy," Seifer sang, pulling out Hyperion and checking the blade with a nod of satisfaction.

The rumbling continued. Large rocks began to roll down the cliffside and there was an earsplitting _crack_ as the entire mountain suddenly seemed to split in two.

"Everyone get back," Squall warned. "I need a reading."

There was another loud _boom_ and dust suddenly lifted from the crack, as if something on the inside was trying to get out. Seifer gripped his gunblade harder. Squall finally lifted his from his belt. Rocks continued to tumble down the slope and there was another _slam_, followed by another. The cracks all branched off into smaller cracks, focusing around a central spot, where it was apparent the monster was trying to break through.

"It's pissed," Seifer said, almost grinning.

Squall glanced at him. "How long has it been since you've been in a fight?"

_Slam._

"Too fucking long."

"I can tell. You look like you're enjoying this."

_Slam._

"I need to kill something."

"That bad at Galbadia, huh?"

"You have no idea."

_Slam. Crack. Rumble. Crack._

The cracks completely fell apart into larger crevices and rocks tumbled down the mountainside. Finally, a large black claw emerged from the mountain and there was a large roar. The claw eventually emerged further, followed by a curled, pointed tail, and in a spray of rubble and snow, the creature finally broke through the mountain. It stumbled down the cliffside and the new SeeDs immediately stepped back in panic. Seifer and Squall were the only ones that stood their ground.

"Ho-ly _shit_!" Seifer exclaimed. "The fuck?"

The black and grey monster was gigantic. It looked to be a hybrid of insect and dragon, but they couldn't really tell what it was or how it lived. It was somewhat reminiscent of a gigantic scorpion, but it hissed and drooled like a dragon, dripping gassy saliva that spontaneously burst into flame upon hitting the ground. Its midsection was low to the ground – not reptilian like a snake, but not quite like a worm. It was almost impossible to tell if it was armored by scales or exoskeleton.

Either way, it looked incredibly dangerous.

"If you haven't cast protect, do it NOW," Squall bellowed to the teams. "Would someone _please_ give me a fucking reading?"

"Scan isn't working, sir!" a SeeD responded. "And the Esthar equipment - "

"Forget it, we've tried," Seifer barked at Squall, interrupting the soldier. In a typical Seifer pre-fighting move, he hoisted his gunblade over his shoulder and flashed Squall a feral grin. "We're gonna have to do this old-school."

Squall heaved an annoyed sigh and glared at the emerging monster, its attention now fully trained on the SeeDs, obviously extremely agitated and angry. It let out an earsplitting roar, flicked its sharp tail up into a curled position, ready to strike, and spread its claws open as it searched for its first victim.

"Great."

**_. . ._**

"Why do we really have to be out here?" Selphie complained. "It's just so _hot!_ I can see everything much better from the air, Quisty!"

"Squall's orders," Quistis replied flatly, wiping the sweat off her brow and squinting across the endless, yellow desert. She was wearing a pair of sunglasses that were also engineered to pick up any movement in further distances, but so far the scanner wasn't identifying anything. A tumbleweed blew across the bare landscape and she sighed. "I don't want to be out here any more than you do, Selphie."

"I know, but…" Selphie pouted. "Why can't we send in the scouts first? At least that way we'll be sitting in the air conditioning - "

"There are scouts ahead of us, Selphie," Quistis reminded her absent-mindedly, looking across the landscape. "But they're rookies and we have to stay out here to make sure that nothing happens to them. Monster activity has been spiking lately and reports from the Galbadians say that there's been activity in the desert."

"Eew," Selphie curled a lip. "Something big, nasty, and hungry, probably. Goody." She groaned and plucked a radio from her belt. "Rinny-tin-tin, you there? How you holding up?"

Quistis gave Selphie an annoyed look. "Selphie - "

A voice radioed back. _"I'm here, Selphie. Just like I was five minutes ago. And…Rinny-tin-tin? Isn't that the name of a dog?"_

Selphie blinked. "I dunno. Is it?"

"_I think it is. And I think you just called me a dog."_

"Oh, did not! You know what I meant!"

"_Have you guys seen anything yet?"_

"Of course we haven't," Selphie rolled her eyes. "It's so boring. I'm sooo jealous. At least you get to sit in the air conditioning."

"_Jealous? I'm the bored one! At least you don't have a possessive boyfriend – who also happens to kinda be your boss – grounding you on every single mission there is!"_

"Oh, Squall's not possessive," Selphie shrugged. "He's just worried about you, that's all."

"_Yeah, well, what's the point of being a SeeD if I can't even help you guys?"_

Selphie turned to Quistis and pouted. "C'mon, Quisty. I can't believe you're making Rinoa stay in the humvee."

"Alpha's orders," came the curt reply.

Selphie rolled her eyes and snorted. "Who gives a crap what emo-Alpha says? He doesn't have superiority over you."

"_I_ give a crap, because if I let Rinoa loose and if he finds out, it'll be my ass," Quistis replied, continuing to scan the desert.

"Since when were you worried about getting chewed out by Squall?" Selphie raised an eyebrow. "You put up with Seifer every single morning. That takes sheer balls of steel, in my book."

"I'm not worried about getting chewed out," Quistis countered, "I just don't feel like _dealing_ with it."

"Quisty, it was _your_ idea in the first place to help Rinoa become a SeeD - "

"And I ruined several relationships because of that decision," Quistis interrupted bitterly.

"Nuh-uh. We supported you."

Quistis sighed and looked down. "I know. It's just that…every time I try to help…I always end up doing the opposite…"

"Alpha's just a big doofus sometimes," Selphie waved her hand airily. "Remember Esthar? Remember how he was just going to _leave_ her there - "

"I know," Quistis repeated. "But Seifer…"

Seifer was livid about the decision to make Rinoa a SeeD. For once, he and Squall had actually found common ground; they were both equally angry about the move. Squall had argued that he protected Rinoa so this exact thing wouldn't happen, so that she wouldn't ever be exposed to battle or strife. Seifer had argued that making a sorceress a SeeD was simply another step closer to dooming Garden forever.

They didn't say this in front of Rinoa's face, of course. They gave Quistis a piece of their minds, however, in private.

"_Quistis, what in the hell is going on here?" Squall snapped. "Rinoa wants to be a SeeD? Can you please tell me who put that idea into her head?"_

"_Squall, Rinoa and I have been talking about it for awhile, and I think it's best for her to - "_

"_What's best for her is to remain here, where she's safe!"_

"_You can't keep her locked up in Garden forever, Squall!" Quistis snapped. "You can't protect her every single day for the rest of your life! You have a job to do! You have an obligation as a Commander - "_

"_Don't tell me what my obligation is," he growled._

"_If you want to protect her, Squall, she has to learn how to protect herself," Quistis replied heatedly. "You can't keep her under your thumb all the time. To condemn her would be counterproductive - "_

"_I am not condemning her! I want to keep her safe! She's not a soldier, Quistis! Don't you realize what you've done?"_

"_She doesn't have to be a soldier! We're not at war anymore, Squall - "_

"_There's always the potential for war, Quistis. We're SeeDs. We'll do whatever it takes to protect others, including taking sides if the situation arises - "_

"_But that's just it! Don't you see! We exist to protect others, Squall! Rinoa wants to help! She's always wanted to protect others!"_

"_How would you know what Rinoa wants? How would you know what she needs?"_

"_She needs to make herself useful around here!"_

"_She's been doing just fine helping Dr. Kadowaki - "_

"_That's just a part-time assistant position, and she can't be stuck doing that forever! She's not allowed to teach because she's not a credentialed cadet, she's not allowed to go out into the field and be a medic because she's not a certified SeeD, she doesn't want to be a medical physician, she gets bored in the library - "_

"_Make your point," he growled impatiently._

"_Don't you remember how she saved lives during the Second Sorceress War?" Quistis yelped. "She's got a gift, Squall. She can easily surpass half the SeeDs in Garden - "_

"_I won't allow it," he interrupted flatly._

_Quistis let out an incredulous chuckle. "You? You won't allow it? The decision isn't even yours to make! It's Rinoa's! You won't even hear what Rinoa has to say?"_

"_The very notion is ridiculous," Squall snapped. "We've been trained to be SeeDs at a very early age - "_

"_And Rinoa can do what no one else can!" Quistis interrupted. "She has so much potential at her fingertips, and you want to let that just go to waste?"_

"_Quistis, just because you're a Blue Mage doesn't give you the right - "_

"_This has nothing to do with my magical abilities - "_

"_Rinoa's powers are new to her and she needs to learn how to - "_

"_Matron and Dr. Kadowaki have been working with her every single day - "_

"_I don't want her exposed!" Squall finally barked. "I don't want the public to find out about what she can do! Don't you understand? Putting her out there in the field is dangerous for her! What if someone finds out that she never has to junction? What if someone starts to investigate why she's the most powerful mage in Garden? What if - "_

"_If she helps people, would it matter?" Quistis barked back. "Besides, Laguna knows your situation, and he can - "_

"_I can't rely on him at every point and turn," he growled back, "and I already told you – there's no way I'll let Rinoa become a SeeD. I'll never allow her that kind of life. She doesn't need to be one of us."_

_Quistis crossed her arms and set her jaw. "It's too late, Squall. It's done."_

_He glared at her sharply. "What are you talking about?"_

"_Rinoa and I have already spoken with the Headmaster, and he believes - "_

"_Oh, no, you can't be SERIOUS!" Squall threw his hands up, clenching his fists and taking an angry step towards her, not sure if he wanted to hit her or punch the wall instead. "You've already filed an application? You've already brainwashed her into believing that she could do this?"_

_Quistis narrowed her eyes. "Are you hearing yourself? Don't you have any confidence in her abilities whatsoever? Don't you support her? And it was her decision, Squall. I didn't twist her arm into becoming a SeeD - "_

"_Bullshit," he spat. "I'm sure your expert opinion weighed in heavily on the subject," he crossed his arms and glared at her disdainfully. "Wouldn't be the first time."_

_She set her jaw, stung._

"_And just because you're the Head Instructor, it doesn't mean you could go behind my back about - "_

"_I am NOT using my authority to promote Rinoa, Squall!" Quistis snapped back. "And who's going behind who's back here? I'm not Rinoa's keeper! Why are you wasting your time yelling at me? Shouldn't you be speaking to Rinoa about this? Hyne, has it always been this convenient to bitch at me first?"_

_Squall worked his jaw muscles, his anger flaring. "DON'T you understand? Damn it, Quistis, I thought we were supposed to TRUST each other!"_

_Quistis fell silent._

"_What I want to know is how all this happened without my knowing! Can't you understand how I feel about this right now? I mean…HYNE." He ran a hand through his hair and turned his back on her._

_She didn't reply._

_There was a long pause before Squall spoke again. His voice had lowered an octave and was surprisingly calm, quiet, and collected. "She was that close…at the Sorceress Memorial, she was that close to becoming imprisoned for life. Because of me." He lifted his head and turned to Quistis. "I don't want another chance of that happening again. Not ever." He stepped forward and pointed at her, still incredibly angry, but maintaining an eerie calm about it. "I'm going to the Headmaster right now to reverse the decision…and then I'm going to file a report requesting your demotion."_

_Quistis's mouth slightly dropped open, but before she could speak, Squall interrupted her._

"_You can't make a decision about a SeeD promotion without notifying the Commander first," he said flatly. "I don't care if the Headmaster has already approved it. If we can't have proper communication amongst each other, and if you can't set an example, then I can't allow this. I'm sorry."_

_It was the way he said it. He wasn't sorry at all._

Quistis let him go without arguing. Deep down, she had felt he was right. She should have told him first. His report to demote her, however, was tossed out by Cid because he knew it was filed in anger, not in logic. Quistis and Squall hadn't really spoken to each other for awhile afterwards, until Rinoa's pleading and urging finally pushed him to at least say "hi" to her in the hallways.

And then, of course, Seifer had found out.

"_What the fuck are you thinking?" Seifer barked at her. "I mean, really? What the fuck, Quis? Are you fucking kidding me? After everything that's happened, you still want to speed up the inevitable - "_

"_That is absolutely untrue, Seifer," Quistis stood her ground, snapping back, trying to get a word in. "Rinoa has a good heart. She's a good person. She's just like Matron - "_

"_Right! Yeah!" Seifer yelled angrily. "Are you hearing yourself? Just like Matron! Good! Fucking terrific! Do you remember what Matron was like five years ago?"_

"_That was beyond her control, Seifer - "_

_Seifer swiped a hand through the air, angrily cutting her off. "Not only are we housing a sorceress in Garden, but you want to fan the fucking flames and give her access to confidential SeeD missions - "_

"_You're being completely paranoid," Quistis cut in. "Rinoa is not going to turn into Ultimecia - "_

"_Paranoid?" Seifer snapped. "Paranoid? Oh, right, call the fucking asshole paranoid. Never mind I was with Ultimecia for a whole Hynedamned year. I saw what she did. I saw what she wanted. She's after the SeeDs, Quistis - "_

"_Ultimecia's gone, Seifer - "_

"_Ultimecia is gone in the future! We're talking about now!"_

"_Rinoa doesn't have the potential to become an evil sorceress!" Quistis replied in a high-pitched yell. "Ultimecia was a very disturbed, warped woman, Seifer. Someone doesn't just get like that overnight - "_

"_Wanna fuckin' bet?" he snapped loudly._

"_The only reason Matron did all those things was because she was possessed," Quistis tried to cut in, but Seifer was already shaking his head as if he didn't want to hear any more. "And she was possessed by Ultimecia, who had access to the junction machine. Well, the junction machine is gone and we destroyed Ultimecia, so - "_

"_Who the fuck cares? A hundred more Ultimecias could pop up if we're not careful - "_

"_What on earth would make Rinoa want to destroy us, Seifer? Are you kidding? She helped us win the war, and now you want to throw her into solitary confinement - "_

"_That sort of power will fucking eat her up," Seifer growled._

"_You don't know that," Quistis countered. "Edea was in total control of her powers - "_

_Seifer snorted._

" – _and Rinoa is in control of hers," she continued angrily. "I'll say it again! The only reason Edea did all those things she did was because she was possessed - "_

"_By some crazy bitch from the future, we all know the story," he interrupted callously. "But where did that crazy bitch come from in the first place, Quistis? Huh? Answer me that, instructor!"_

_She glared at him angrily, stung by how he used the nickname. It was in a tone meant to mock her._

"_Fucking Hyne, Quis," Seifer ran a hand through his hair angrily. "I don't know what the fuck you're thinking. Nothing good can come out of this."_

"_She can help us, Seifer. She's extremely gifted - "_

"_She's extremely dangerous - "_

"_Just give her a chance!"_

"_Give her a chance? To what? Take over the world?"_

"_Seifer, please, just - "_

"_No!" Seifer stepped forward and pointed at Quistis. "Do you understand? I don't want to give her a chance. I don't want to give her an opportunity that could destroy us all."_

"_You're blowing this out of proportion - "_

"_Quistis," Seifer interrupted angrily, "you're a very smart girl, but fuck. Right now you're being incredibly fucking stupid. I can't believe you did this. I can't believe you went ahead and suggested Rinoa to SeeD status without even talking to me or Leonhart first."_

_Quistis clenched her jaw, angry and hurt. "Last I checked, Seifer, I didn't need your permission - "_

"_Have you even thought about this? Have you even looked past your stupid friendship with her? You've gotta look at the bigger picture here, and you can't just invite her into the club just because she's - "_

"_I've given it plenty of thought, Seifer," Quistis interrupted him angrily, "and after what I've seen – after what she can do – after what she's already done for all of us – she's a tremendous commodity to Garden. I didn't do it because she felt left out. I did it because she's got the talent!"_

"_She's got the talent to wipe us off the face of this fucking planet!"_

"_Rinoa would never do that! She can help us, Seifer! I know she can!" _

"_Stop being so naïve," he growled. "Just because the war is over doesn't mean that we can sit back and relax - "_

"_I am not being naïve!" she snapped back. "Don't you remember who went into the future to meet Ultimecia face-to-face? I was there, Seifer – and so was Rinoa! I know the risks! I know our duty! And I know I'm helping Garden if we let Rinoa become a SeeD!"_

_Seifer lowered his head and shook it. _

_There was an extremely long pause. He sighed and turned his back on her. None of them spoke for an agonizing minute until Seifer finally said in a low tone, "If she's a SeeD in Balamb, then I'm gone."_

_Quistis blinked. "What?"_

"_You heard me. I won't fucking stay here. I won't support this decision. It's bullshit."_

_She stared at him, hurt. "You'd leave Balamb? Just like that?"_

"_Just like that."_

_She set her jaw, taken aback. There was another long pause as his words sunk in. "Where will you go?"_

"_Galbadia. I'm pretty sure they still have an anti-sorceress policy there."_

_His sarcasm stung her. She swallowed and hesitated, not knowing what to make of his statement. "…You can't just leave…"_

"_Sure I can."_

_Quistis paused and swallowed back the growing lump in her throat, not expecting this sudden turn of events. His nonchalant nature made it even worse. "…You know I can't go with you. I won't leave Balamb Garden. I have an obligation here."_

"_I know you do. You're training sorceresses now to become killers. Good luck with that. I also have an obligation to the Galbadian military. I believe it's my duty to let them know that a sorceress is about to become a SeeD."_

_Her nostrils flared and she felt the sting of tears. His words seemed to slice her straight through the heart. "You can't be serious about this."_

_He crossed his arms and turned to glare at her. "Never been more serious in my fucking life."_

_She picked her chin up and furrowed her brows, feeling a surge of anger. "That's it, then. You'll just go. You're just going to leave."_

_His jawbones protruded for a bit and he swallowed. "Yeah."_

_Quistis suddenly couldn't control the tremor in her chest. She wasn't sure if he was breaking up with her or not. She couldn't tell. She had never gone through a breakup before. If it was a breakup – if he really was going to leave her for good – it felt awful. He had flat out told her that he'd leave, and he didn't even seem to mind. After everything they'd been through, he suddenly didn't seem sorry to let it all go. His indifference about the whole thing was a cold slap in the face. The sobs were sitting in the back of her throat and her chest was tightening up, but she refused to display any remorse in front of him. Instead, sheer anger flowed out._

"_Fine," she snapped, balling her fists at her sides. The words were already tumbling out before she even knew what she was saying. "Good. Fucking go. Just run. Run away to Galbadia, Seifer. Just…" she waved a hand angrily and shook her head, swallowing back the tears. "…forget about everything you had here."_

_He stared at her, his expression a mix of bitter anger and something else, possibly sadness, but said nothing. There was a long pause before he turned, grabbed his jacket, and grumbled, "Everything I had here has changed."_

_Hours after he'd left her room, Quistis thought that she would have been bawling, but strangely enough, she felt empty. She slowly sat down on the sofa, her mind reeling, wondering what in the hell just happened. A cold, sour feeling crept up her belly into her chest and she put a hand to her forehead. She felt awful, but she wasn't going to remove her stance on the subject. Rinoa was an incredible asset to Garden and she didn't possess any psychological traits that would make her remotely dangerous. She understood why Seifer would be bothered by it, and she knew he would…_

…_but leaving Garden over it? Leaving his home?_

…_Leaving me?_

_She swallowed and stared out her window, feeling sick. The tears didn't come, but she felt as empty as she did when she left the orphanage for the first time. If Seifer really did leave, she knew that he'd take a piece of her with him. She'd never be whole unless he was in her life._

_Seifer's not going to leave. He's just angry. He always says things like that when he's mad. This isn't any different from all the other fights we had…he'll go to his room and he'll cool off, and then we'll talk about it. No big deal._

_But he didn't come back,_ Quistis thought as she scanned the desert absent-mindedly.

She'd gone to Seifer's room the next morning, only to find that he was gone. Nobody knew that he had left, except for Xu, who had mentioned that he took an early flight out to Galbadia, claiming he was on-call for business.

Quistis set her jaw and narrowed her eyes against the burning sunlight. _He left without even saying goodbye._

That following day had been hauntingly devoid of…everything. Hollow. Grey. Bleak. Dead.

It didn't really sink in until the fourth day of his absence. She'd suddenly broken down and cried for hours upon hours inside her room when she realized the gravity of what had happened, then she went about her daily business as if nothing had ever happened…burying the pain deep down.

"…Quisty?" Selphie leaned over to try to read her expression.

Quistis blinked. "Hm?"

"You're spacing out. I asked you if you talked to him recently."

"…talked to who?"

Selphie rolled her eyes. "To Seifer, dum-dum."

Quistis sighed. "No. Not since he left."

Selphie glanced out towards the horizon and remained silent. After a pause, however, she shrugged. "He'll come around. Just give him time. That kid's got a lot of pent-up rage."

_An understatement_, Quistis mused. "I don't think he'll come back, Selphie. It's already been two months."

It was strange how surprisingly calm she grew every single time she said that sentence. She had trained herself to keep the quivering tears down, but now that she'd mastered her sobs, she couldn't cover up the dead tone that accompanied any conversation about Seifer.

He'd taken a piece of her when he left, just as she predicted he would. Nothing would ever be the same until he came back.

"Don't be silly. He loves you. He's just…" Selphie trailed off and shrugged. "…Seifer."

Quistis didn't reply.

"Why don't you go to Galbadia to visit him?"

Quistis let out an aggravated sigh, not wanting to discuss the topic anymore. "Because, Selphie, I don't have any missions or duties lined up for Galbadia."

_Besides, I refuse to go crawling back to him. _He_ left _me_._

"Just pretend you've got to take over some teaching duties for a couple of weeks, then - "

"This conversation is over, SeeD Tilmitt," Quistis's voice grew stony. "Please focus on the mission."

Selphie let out a huff and crossed her arms. "I'd be doing a _much_ better job if I had my wings."

"Unfortunately, I don't think a search by air would do any good," Quistis said. "Reports state that we've got a burrower."

Selphie curled a lip. "Ew. Like a worm?"

"I'm not sure. It's possible."

"I _hate_ worms."

Quistis silently agreed, since worms were known to be deceiving to the eye. They were slow, they had little to no eyesight, and they hated sunlight – but they were incredibly adept at magic and could immobilize its prey with noxious mucus, if provoked. Long ago, she'd learned how to use ultra waves from one. The things weren't to be underestimated.

"You know, we're probably looking in the _totally_ wrong area," Selphie whined. "It's too hot out here for worms. If they're underground, they're deep enough where it's cool – too deep for us – so how are we going to find one? Drench the area until they wiggle out?"

Quistis smirked. Selphie was smart when she wanted to be.

"That's one option."

"Yeah?"

"Another one would be to cause vibrations…induce some tremors…"

Selphie seemed to perk up. "Woo-hoo! Then I can call in my bombers? They'll blast the ground with just one push of a button and - "

"That'll cause too much damage, Selphie," Quistis interrupted. "This is Galbadian land. We can't just bomb it without a pretext for - "

"Quisty, let's just hear your plan of action and be _done_ with the stupid thing," Selphie snapped. "I'm _hot!_"

Quistis frowned. "Well…I would…but…"

"But what?"

"These stupid glasses," Quistis removed the binoculars and gave it a few hard taps. "They're not working. I'm not picking up a thing."

"Hey…aren't those from Esthar?"

"Yeah."

"So they should work…"

Quistis shook her head and closed one eye, glancing through one of the lenses to check for any changes. "Yeah. They _should_."

Selphie grabbed them and put them over her head. "Lemme see. Maybe you're using them wrong."

Quistis rolled her eyes and pressed her earbud. "Keep searching. It has to be around here somewhere. Stay alert."

"_Roger that, Blue Leader,"_ a voice radioed back.

"Are you sure we're looking in the right spot?" Selphie looked around and squinted.

Quistis snatched them off of her head and sighed in frustration. "Yes. It was last sighted in this area…and the Galbadians have reported fluctuations in magic levels lately. There's got to be a hybrid running around here somewhere…"

"I'm telling you, if I had my bird in the air, I'd find that thing lickety-split," Selphie sighed.

As if in response, there was a slight rumble. The SeeDs halted.

"Did you hear that?" Quistis spoke into her mic.

"_Roger that, Blue Leader. We heard it. Felt it too."_

"Sounded like thunder," Selphie looked up at the sky. "Hm. Weather forecasters sure do suck."

Quistis rolled her eyes and was about to reply when the yellow sand suddenly started to sink as a gigantic sinkhole in front of them seemed to appear out of nowhere. Quistis and Selphie stepped back automatically.

"BACK!" Quistis screamed at the troopers. "GET BACK!"

"Junction!" Selphie followed up. "Check your junctions!" She grabbed the mouthpiece connected to her earbud and yelled into it, "Ragnarok Four, do you copy?"

Quistis stared at the sinkhole with narrowed eyes, mouth ajar, as she tried to determine just what in the hell they were dealing with.

"Ragnarok Four, do you copy?" Selphie repeated.

"Form a perimeter!" Quistis yelled at the candidates. "Keep your distance! Don't fall into the hole! Form a perimeter! Has anyone used Scan yet?"

"Negative, ma'am," a nearby candidate replied. "Scan isn't working."

Quistis whipped around and glared at him. "What?"

"I want your squad ready," Selphie barked into her microphone. "When I give you the word, get your birds in the air. We might need backup. Over."

Quistis whirled around again and used the special binoculars. The magic readings were off of the charts, but there was no other indication that anything was even down there.

"What in the hell…?"

The sand was sinking lower and lower, revealing a deep hole. The SeeDs and the candidates stepped back as they formed a wide perimeter around the sinkhole, readying their weapons.

"Quisty? Protect?" Selphie asked.

Quistis blinked. "I don't know. I don't know what it is. Scan isn't working. But…"

The magic…

"SHELL!" She barked. "Shell, now!"

All around the perimeter, a pink glow broke out amongst the soldiers. Like a domino effect, the pink shimmer reverberated all around them. Quistis cast her spell wide-range, which engulfed herself, Selphie, and other SeeD candidates nearby.

With a loud roar, the ground started to shake. The sinking sand kicked up dust and debris, making it hard to visualize what was beneath the sinkhole, which had gone incredibly deep to reveal jagged brown rocks below – almost as if a cave had been dug out under the sand.

"What the…?" Quistis narrowed her eyes and tried to focus on the readings, but the device wasn't working. Frustrated, she tore it off her head and squinted, trying to get a clear glimpse of the creature. The sinkhole kept going deeper and wider, however, and Selphie had to yank Quistis back to keep her from falling in. The perimeter grew wider until the SeeDs were spread thin. As the sand flowed into the hole like water, a gigantic monster surfaced with a roar, kicking up more sand.

Elongated, brown, and ugly, the massive worm-looking creature had fangs that jutted out of the circled mouth every which-way, and its head, which rose up out of the sinkhole, whipped back and forth for a bit as if to clear the sand away, flinging sandy, slimy excrement around that landed far behind the cadets with loud thuds. Noxious fumes rose up from the mucus and sizzled.

"Eeeeeeew!" Selphie cried. "Disgusting! What in the - "

Quistis lunged to the ground, taking Selphie with her, as the gigantic worm head flew by in an attempt to knock them out of the way. With a loud cry, other SeeDs ducked as well, and the cadets standing near the worm's posterior began to cast magic at it.

Although it didn't seem to have eyes, the worm turned and faced the casters with a loud roar. Suddenly, the entire ground below them cracked and jolted up, then back down with a loud rumble, as if something underneath gave it a slam, causing the SeeDs to fall over.

"It's not all the way out yet!" Quistis screamed. "Back up! Get out of there! It's still underground - "

As if on cue, the ground below three SeeDs cracked again and seemed to disintegrate under their feet. With loud yells, they fell through another sinkhole and the worm began to slither out of the hole, up onto the surface, ignoring other SeeDs in its wake. Cadets scrambled aside and cast more magic at it, while others shot and stabbed at it.

"Hyne," Quistis shook her head in disbelief. "It's too big…"

"What?" Selphie cried, glancing at Quistis wildly for direction. "What do we do? This thing is frickin' _huge_!"

_That's it. Screw Alpha's orders_. Quistis put a hand to her ear and yelled into the mic. "Rinoa? Rinoa, do you read me? We need your help! Take your squad with you and move out immediately! Rinoa, do you copy? Rinoa! Are you there?"

Rinoa hadn't waited for an order from Quistis to know that they were already in trouble. She'd felt the hairs on her arms prickle as the soft vibrations of magic, coupled to something else – something unidentifiable, but something she just knew was moving underground – and it made her insides curl. She'd stepped out of the humvee and nearly fell to her knees after the overwhelming sensation of nausea rolled through her body – but she clutched her stomach with one hand and held out a palm with the other, as if she were testing the atmosphere.

"Er…SeeD Heartilly? Are you all right?" A cadet – more like a bodyguard assigned by Squall – had stepped out of the humvee to check on her. "You should probably get back inside the vehicle…"

But Rinoa wasn't listening. She felt the magic cracking and buzzing inside her veins and actually felt the creature slithering underground…hunting…hungry…angry…

With a sharp breath, she sprinted towards the direction of Quistis's team, the surprised SeeDs calling after her and struggling to catch up.

"Rinoa?" Quistis barked.

"Where is she?" Selphie yelped. "Why isn't she answering?"

"Call in your unit!" Quistis ordered Selphie. "Tell your squad to lay heavy fire on this thing, now!"

"Ragnarok four, Ragnarok four, do you copy? You are a-go, do you read? Launch!" Selphie yelled into her earpiece. "Lock in on my position and pour it on thick!"

**_. . ._**

"Squall, cover me!" Seifer barked, readying Hyperion and forcing a surge of energy throughout his body, channeling it to the blade, making it glow orange. He glared at the monster as it attempted to grab a few SeeDs with its pincers and jab at a few more with its tail.

_Hrmh._

"I'm going to take out the claws."

"Then I'll do the tail," Squall nodded, his breathing fast. "I'll go first to divert its attention."

"That thing is armored to all holy hell," Seifer pointed out. "The only way to really kill it is to – _fuck!_"

He rolled, avoiding an attack, followed up by a jetstream of flames. The edge of his black trench coat was hit and caught fire, but he tore it off and tossed it down angrily.

"Fifth damn coat I've lost this year."

"Sir – what should we do?" a few cadets were standing around him, waiting for an order.

"When I give the word, cast Blizzaga at it – and don't let up until I say so," Seifer replied.

"Yes, sir."

"Alpha Leader is going to go to its flank, and I'm going to chop off its fucking digits," Seifer added.

"Sir."

"_Don't_ Blizzaga me," he glared at the cadets. "Fucking use your aim."

"Yes, sir."

Sad, almost, how he found himself reminding them more often.

With a nod, Squall sprinted towards the monster's rear. With a yell, Seifer barreled towards the front, Hyperion glowing red-hot.

**_. . ._**

As Rinoa was running, she felt the high-pitched whine of Selphie's unit growing closer until the whine turned into an earsplitting roar as four Ragnarok fighter jets tore through the air, slicing past the speed of sound, and blew past her overhead towards the fight. She kept running, knowing that whatever this thing was, it was too big for manmade ammunition. A domino effect of explosions soon followed as the four jets flew past the fight zone, unleashing bombs and firepower in a string of attacks, then disappeared as quickly as they had appeared.

The SeeDs were standing far enough away to avoid the damage, but after the fire, sand, and smoke had cleared, the worm only had a few open wounds. It was still moving. It didn't even look damaged. It let out a loud roar in pain and started to writhe around in the remaining fire, which was quickly snuffed out by sand and the worm's own body.

Quistis narrowed her eyes in utter disbelief. _"Shit!"_

"That didn't even make a _dent!_" Selphie cried. "Is that _normal?_"

If anything, the creature just got angrier. It was flailing around, whipping up sand and mucus, and curling, un-curling, then curling again as if it was getting ready for something.

"This isn't going to work," Quistis cried, staring up at the massive worm. She and Selphie were far back enough to avoid any attacks, and the rest of the SeeD teams followed suit. They'd focused more on defense than anything else, and they were now dodging angry lunges made by the worm. Magic attacks only seemed to agitate it, and Quistis started to glance around frantically for Rinoa.

"Quisty, we need – uh oh," Selphie stopped mid sentence and looked up into the air. Quistis followed her gaze.

A shimmering, black-purple ball had grown larger and larger above them. Before Quistis could scream out a warning, the ball expanded and the spell engulfed them all.

Surrounded by licking orange electricity, Quistis and Selphie couldn't breathe as the spell constricted them and squeezed them, then collapsed onto them into a black void. They, along with the other SeeDs, cried out in pain and fell over, breathing hard. The worm had cast Demi. Except…

"Ooohh," Selphie groaned, rolling back up. "Quisty, you okay? Nnngh...what _was _that?"

"That spell was too potent," Quistis breathed, struggling to stand back up. "If it casts another one like that, we're in big trouble."

"We need to cast Reflect and then - "

"That thing's spells are cutting right through our barriers," Quistis shook her head, curing herself and Selphie with a quick flick of the wrist. "We'll have to silence it, otherwise - "

A second sphere of Demi suddenly expanded and the SeeDs braced themselves with dread, although this time, the spell engulfed the worm and contracted, bending the atmosphere with it. With a roar, the worm writhed in pain, moving slower and giving the SeeDs only seconds of time to rebound with a round of Curaga.

Quistis looked over to find Rinoa glaring at the worm, palms out, breathing through her nostrils.

"Rinny!" Selphie squealed. "Holy crap!"

"I'm here!" Rinoa breathed, stepping forward to cast Regen on Quistis, Selphie, and their surrounding team. "Are you all right?"

Before they could respond, a gurgling roar made them turn their attentions back to the monster.

Damaged, burned, and leaking slimy fluid, the worm gave another loud roar and looked as if it was stretching and curling back in pain between shudders. With a spasm, its skin suddenly began to tear apart from the inside and large claws began to emerge, dripping with slimy mucus. All around its belly, the skin started to tear and rip as segmented legs popped out from underneath, taking the shape of a giant insect. Its tail curled around and a sharp tip began to poke out from under the skin, and with another growl, the worm started salivating at the opening which apparently was its mouth. The saliva started to spontaneously burst into flame as it hit the sand.

"Methane gas…" Quistis murmured, staring at the worm's mouth. Around it the atmosphere was wavy and thick, indicative of gas rising up and not mixing with the oxygen. "Hyne. What is that?"

"Quistis?"

They were all staring at it in shock and horror, wondering what in the world they had unearthed. Nothing like this had ever been seen – or documented – within the past two Lunar Cry events.

"Quisty?" Selphie asked nervously. "What do we do?"

Quistis stared up at the transforming monster, which almost looked as if it were ripping itself out of a cocoon. She shook her head and whispered, "…I don't know."

Heavy fire and magic had only seemed to provoke it. Instead of stopping the beast for good, they'd induced an evolutionary change and woke up something even bigger – and worse. It breathed fire, it looked as if it had a stinger forming on its tail, it had appendages, and Quistis wasn't going to wait around and see what other advantages it might grow.

"There's no way we can take it down with our numbers," Quistis murmured.

_Unless…_

_I don't care. I don't care if she exposes herself. Lives are at stake. I don't care what Squall says._

"Rinoa. You have to stop it. Now." Quistis glanced at her. "Do you understand what I'm asking you to do?"

Rinoa nodded and took a deep breath. Without even moving, she simply closed her eyes and started to glow several different colors as Regen, Aura, Shell, and Protect engulfed her. She took two steps forward and held her palms out.

"Stand back."

Quistis swallowed, hoping to hell she'd made the right decision.

**_. . ._**

In a collaborative effort, Squall and Seifer managed to take down the beast after unleashing a series of limit breaks and status effects – blind had proven most useful – and Seifer had finally split its unarmored belly open, instructing the cadets to fire grenades, unleash Flare, and generally cook the damn thing from the inside out. After it had been destroyed, they were dirty and sweaty and breathing hard, despite the freezing atmosphere.

"Hyne," Seifer breathed. He coughed and spat, glaring at the heap of guts. "What the fuck _is_ that thing?"

Squall shook his head. "I don't know."

The SeeDs all stood around the dead monster, now half charred and smoking, and a few were making sure it was truly dead by walking around it a few times, training their weapons on it. Seifer spat again and rubbed his nose, narrowing his eyes at the potent smell the dead creature was now giving off.

"Looks like a hynedamned cross between a scorpion, a dragon, and a fuckin' _worm_."

Squall crossed his arms, grim. "We'll have to report this."

Seifer glanced over at Squall. "You think so?"

"I've never seen – or heard about – anything like this. Have you?"

Seifer shrugged. "No, but it's probably another Lunar Cry hybrid."

Squall shook his head. "Doesn't matter. This thing was way too big and way too dangerous…I don't want to ignore it. There might be more out there. We'll have to report it."

"I don't like this _reporting in_ shit," Seifer narrowed his eyes. "All that information goes to fucking Crackpot Loon McGee in Esthar – how do we know he's actually doing some _good_ with all that?"

"Who are you talking about?"

"You know damn well who I'm talking about. Odine."

"He's under strict supervison. You know that."

"That doesn't mean shit."

"Laguna's promised us that he's under surveillance, twenty-four hours a day - "

Seifer rolled his eyes. "And you'll trust a guy like Laguna?"

There was a pause. Squall set his jaw. "…Yeah. I guess I have to."

After the Second Sorceress War, it wasn't hard to gain funding. Trabia Garden had been rebuilt with the aid of Galbadia, Balamb, and even Esthar. Dr. Odine had kept his word and reluctantly burned the notebooks and research papers of anything pertaining to the Junction Machine Ellone. Laguna had threatened prosecution of the scientist because of his ties to the unauthorized kidnappings over fifteen years ago, so in exchange for clemency, Odine was forced to give up research pertaining to anything sorceress-related, and instead directed his attentions towards developing advanced weapons and machinery for the Gardens, all three of which were heavily funded by Esthar and Galbadia.

The weapons research and advanced technology were all in the name of peace, of course, since the SeeDs were now ordained the official peacekeepers of the world.

Smaller, faster jets similar to the Ragnarok in design but built for dogfighting and attack had been developed and were now found at each Garden base. Esthar fighter pilots trained interested SeeDs and the Gardens started a new aviation program.

Pulse-controlled machine guns with laser sights and built-in flash lights, accompanied with grenade launchers, flame throwers, and customized ammunition, were also developed and mass produced for the Gardens.

The use of the guardian forces became obsolete due to the disabling fact that they housed in the brain and caused amnesia, so instead, Odine had begun researching ways to junction the mysterious forces without becoming dependent upon them or without altering the physical and mental condition of the soldiers. Instead of the original guardian forces, which had been set free, Odine had proposed to research the alternative junctioning of synthetic powers that had been extracted from monsters all over the world, combining black, white, and blue magic study. However, due to the danger and controversy of the new, unknown research, he was not allowed to use human test subjects and the research remained under a very scrutinizing eye of the Estharian government.

Seifer sighed, knowing that the Gardens owed a lot to Esthar and to Laguna…however, as far as he was concerned, keeping Odine around was one gigantic mistake. Knowing that Laguna Loire was Squall's biological father also complicated the situation (which Seifer couldn't believe at first when Squall told him shortly after the trial five years ago – but it made sense, given how they looked fuckin' identical), and he had wanted to remind Squall that just because daddy President bought him all sorts of guns and Garden toys, he obviously wasn't to be trusted since he's a politician that had missed out on the first eighteen years of Squall's life, not to mention letting Odine run amok during the Second Sorceress War.

Then again, Squall knew this. He knew all too well what Odine was capable of. Rinoa was constantly on his mind, Seifer knew. He decided not to make an argument out of it.

"Whatever. I don't see how reporting this in is going to make a difference. We should just wipe 'em all out ourselves. No _research_, no _analyzing_, no _calculations_. Bring in SeeD and done. Problem solved."

Squall cracked a grin. "You sound like Zell."

"Hmph. I'd have to be mentally retarded to do an impression of _him_."

Squall didn't reply.

There was a pause. Seifer looked around and blinked.

"Speaking of…where is Chicken-wuss? I thought you two always went on missions together? Fags."

Squall glared at him in annoyance. "He's still back at Garden. I've…decided to ground him for awhile…"

Seifer raised an eyebrow. "You've grounded him? He can't go on missions?"

"For the time being."

"The hell'd he do? Punch a baby?"

"It's a long story. It's actually something I want to talk to you about…but it'll have to wait until we get to Balamb."

"Whoa, whoa. _We?_ I'm not going to Balamb. I'm going back to Galbadia."

Squall shook his head. "It's out of the way. We'll all rendezvous in Balamb and then once we put together a report, you can take one of our transports back to Galbadia and tell Martine - "

"I don't think you heard me, Squall. I'm not _going_ back to Balamb."

Squall blinked at him, unfazed. "Well, then…good luck walking back to Galbadia."

"You're taking every single transport out of here? You won't even give me one?"

"I'm not going to spare one transport for a trip that isn't necessary," Squall replied briskly. "You have to come to Balamb anyway so we can talk to Cid about what the hell just happened. It's a two-way street, Seifer. You knew this when you took the job."

"Don't fucking tell me how to do my job - "

"All the same, you've got to report to the Headmaster and we have to notify Esthar - "

Seifer rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Fine. But once I talk to Cid, I'm out. I've got shit to do in G-Garden."

"Fine."

"Fine."

Squall wasn't stupid. He knew that Seifer was probably bored out of his mind in Galbadia, which was why he knew he'd take the Shumi mission. He also knew that Seifer wasn't stupid. Seifer probably suspected that Squall wanted to purposely cause a run-in with Quistis, but so what? Squall was tired of those two giving each other the silent treatment. Not only could it affect morale, but it caused unnecessary tension between SeeD members. At a time like this, they all had to work together to achieve peace and diplomacy throughout nations. A fight between the Galbadian Commander and a Head Instructor wasn't helping things. The only reason Seifer hadn't come back to Garden yet was because it was easier to stay mad at someone when it was long-distance. He always was a stubborn son of a bitch.

The SeeDs made their way to the transports, which were already powering up for departure, and loaded up their gear. Samples from the dead monster were collected in special containers and the rest of the carcass was burned after photographs were taken. Squall had to retreat back down to the Shumi village to notify the tribes that the threat was taken care of, as well as arrange payment from the tribe master, and returned to the head transport helicopter, where Seifer was already seated leisurely and waiting. As he sat down, the pilot turned and patted Squall on the shoulder.

"Sir…we've just received word about the mission in the Galbadian desert."

Seifer narrowed his eyes and snapped to attention. He glanced at Squall. "What mission in the Galbadian desert?"

"And?" Squall asked the cadet.

"They ran into some problems, sir. The monster's been destroyed, but…there were casualties."

Seifer sat forward. "What mission? Where in the Galbadian desert?"

Squall ignored Seifer and asked the cadet sharply, "What casualties? Do you know the names of the SeeDs?"

"Negative, sir. It was a rough patch-through in morse code. We didn't get any details…just that the threat's been eliminated and that there were three KIA."

Seifer glanced back and forth from the cadet, to Squall, to the cadet, to Squall again. "Squall. What mission in the desert?"

"No word on Blue Leader?"

"No, sir."

Seifer felt something in his chest freeze. "What _about_ Blue Leader?"

Squall set his jaw and gripped the arms of the seat tighter. "What about SeeD Heartilly?"

"I'm sorry, sir. Nothing."

Squall slowly sat back, grim, and Seifer felt his mouth go dry. It felt as if the wind was knocked out of him. There was an immensely long pause…and Squall wouldn't raise his eyes to look at Seifer.

"Squall…for fuck's sake..."

After a pause, Squall cleared his throat and glanced at Seifer. "…I sent Quistis out to investigate another Lunar Cry manifestation in the Galbadian desert, north of Winhill," he replied quietly. "Rinoa was with her."

The color in Seifer's face seemed to drain as he glared at Squall in disbelief. There was another painful silence.

"…Why didn't you tell me?"

Squall's steely blue eyes narrowed at him as he replied flatly, "I thought you weren't interested."

Seifer's nostrils flared slightly as he gritted his teeth, his jaw muscles working. He sat back slowly and exhaled, putting a hand over his mouth and glancing out the window. He briefly closed his eyes and shook his head, as if he was thinking about something, then his angry gaze darted towards Squall again.

For the longest moment, Squall was almost sure that Seifer would launch out of his seat and pummel him, but he remained still. He hadn't seen such a cold, angry glare from Seifer since the war. He could see all of Seifer's questions and accusations anyhow – they were written on his face.

_Why would you send her out there without telling me?_

_Why did you send her with Rinoa?_

_What is Rinoa even doing out there?_

_If it was dangerous, you should have told me to go. Galbadia's my jurisdiction._

_I can't believe you went over my head on this._

_If she's dead, I swear to Hyne, I'll fucking kill you next._

Seifer, however, hadn't said a word. He rubbed his face and glanced back out the window, cutting off eye contact and letting out another short sigh, his brows knit. He shook his head slightly again.

…_I shouldn't have left her. Hyne, why was I so stupid? If something happened to her…_

He closed his eyes. His only response emerged as a whisper. "Shit."

**_. . ._**

Selphie was leaning over, hands on her knees, coughing from the sand and dust. Rinoa put a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

"Chya! What _was_ that thing?" Selphie snapped. She coughed some more and stood up straight. "I've never seen a freakin' worm that big before! Ugh! I _hate_ worms!"

"I don't think it's a worm," Quistis replied grimly, staring at the dead monster. Or, at least, what was left of it.

Rinoa and Selphie glanced at her.

"What are you talking about? How can that _not_ be a worm?" Selphie made a face. "Just look at it!"

"It looks like a worm, but it's not," Quistis shook her head. "It's larva."

Rinoa followed her gaze and stared at it as well. "…Larva?"

"You mean that thing is a baby?" Selphie motioned toward it angrily. "That's not even a full-grown monster?"

Quistis nodded. "That's exactly what I mean."

"But…" Rinoa trailed off. "Quistis…I thought you said that egg-layers can only grow to a certain body mass. They can't get that big…can they?"

Quistis sighed and stared at the dead larva, brows furrowed. "In this case, apparently they can. But… I've never seen anything like this before. Nothing on this scale has ever been documented that states otherwise."

"Hang on," Selphie put her hands on her hips. "If that's just the _larval_ form, then how big is the _mature_ form?"

Quistis and Rinoa exchanged glances.

Selphie glanced at both of them and motioned again to the dead mass. "Bigger than that?"

Quistis's silence said it all. Rinoa and Selphie watched her grim expression, then they both glanced at the dead monster again. Selphie let out a breath.

"…Whoa."

"Is this…normal?" Rinoa asked. "I mean…for the Lunar Cry?"

Quistis sighed. "One thing's for sure. We'll have to report this."

* * *

**_Author's Note:_** You'll notice that I use _Epica _a lot to help me write. The song listed above is great for imagining the battle sequences, which I'll use more detail in the next chapter. I've found that their music is pretty much going to be the soundtrack for this story. If you're having trouble envisioning the monster, I kept thinking about the gigantic worm from FFX mixed with the twintania from FFXII. Also, "Yeah, man, but it's a _dry _heat!" is from the movie _Aliens _:)


	3. XIPHIAS

The minute the chopper had landed, Seifer wasted no time getting through the Balamb Garden entrance. He'd ignored the salutes from the cadets guarding the front gate, he'd ignored the surprised stares and the sudden rigid _ten-huts_ given to him as he walked towards the quad, and he'd ignored the SeeD specialist behind him, trying to get him to sign some sort of fucking sheet attached to a clipboard.

"SeeD Almasy…er…Knight Leader…sir…I need you to…if you would just…initial here for the authorization of explosives…on foreign soil…"

He scoured the quad for her. There was a large transport that had docked prior to the Alpha Team and Knight Team arrival…it had to be the team on the Galbadian mission…they had to be here…the chopper was empty, so they'd already unloaded…

He grabbed the jacket of the nearest SeeD in the vicinity. It was a young boy, probably a second-year.

"Was there a squad that just rolled through here?"

The kid looked like he was about to piss his pants. "Sir! Y…y…yes, sir!"

"Where are they?"

The kid gulped and shook his head. "Uh…went their separate ways…sir. I think they loaded up all their equipment - " he motioned to the warehouse, which served as the new weapons and armor arsenal, as well as the vehicles, "- and split up. Some of the SeeDs went into the cafeteria - "

"Where's Instructor Trepe?"

"I…uh…I don't know, sir. I haven't seen her."

He grit his teeth and released the cadet, ignoring the sour feeling that crept up his stomach.

"We'll go to Cid's office, Seifer, and find out - "

He didn't even realize that Squall had followed him, every step of the way, even quickly signing the clipboard before stopping Seifer at the fountain. Seifer turned around abruptly, shoved a finger into Squall's face, and hissed, "_Shut the fuck up_. It was _you_ who let her go out there in the first place, so I have every _right_ to make sure - "

Squall glanced up, over Seifer's shoulder, and his eyes widened. He grabbed Seifer's wrist to cut him off.

"Oh, thank Hyne."

Seifer blinked and turned around. He couldn't see them directly – the fountain was in the way – but through the flowing water, he saw her hair, and then he saw her face. She was talking with Rinoa and a little-ass thing – was that messenger girl? – and another cadet he didn't recognize. The air flew out of his lungs and he thought his knees might damn near buckle.

Squall was just as relieved to see Rinoa. He didn't waste any time to step around Seifer, walk around the fountain, and embrace her in a gigantic hug before she could even let out a sound.

Quistis was in the middle of talking to Selphie, Rinoa, and another SeeD about a posthumous report when she was interrupted by Squall's sudden bear hug. Rinoa let out a squeak of surprise, then hugged him back. She and Selphie exchanged concerned glances.

_Here it comes…_

"Are you all right?" Squall stepped back and examined Rinoa, both hands on her shoulders.

She nodded. "I'm fine, Squall. Really."

He hugged her again. "Thank Hyne."

"Squall…" Quistis figured she'd get it overwith, as quick and painless as possible. "If you're upset because I put Rinoa in the field, it was because - "

"No," Squall interrupted her and shook his head. "As long as you're all alive…" he stepped back from Rinoa and gave Quistis a quizzical look, then glanced at Rinoa. "Wait…what? You put Rinoa in the _field?_"

Quistis blinked. "You mean…you didn't know?"

Squall narrowed his eyes. "No. All we heard was that there were three KIA. I thought the worst. I thought you were all…" He glanced at Rinoa. "You didn't stay in the humvee?"

Rinoa bit her lip.

"It was _my_ order," Quistis stepped forward to cover for her. "We needed her, Squall…otherwise…"

"What happened?" he demanded.

Quistis was about to explain when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She glanced up and could have sworn she saw Seifer through the water…on the other side of the fountain…watching them…

Selphie stepped forward and glanced at Quistis's concerned frown, then looked at the fountain, following her confused stare. "Quisty?"

"Uh…hang on a sec, you guys…I thought…"

Without bothering to explain, she quickly started to walk around the fountain, her hope suddenly inflated, her heart pounding…

She knew it was him. It had to be him. His face…his intense green eyes, scrutinizing her through the falling water…that furrow in his brow…that 'always angry' look he had… He came back. He was there, she knew it. He was watching her, though the water…

Once she reached the other side, though, there was nobody there. A few SeeDs were congregating to talk about their recent mission, and other cadets were mingling or walking by, but there was no sign of Seifer Almasy. Her face fell. She let out a breath.

_Stupid,_ she thought. _Why would he be here?_

Turning, she walked back to her comrades and rubbed her neck, feigning nonchalance by fake pain.

"Quisty?" Selphie asked. "What is it?"

Quistis shook her head. "Nothing. Thought I saw something."

"Tell me what happened," Squall repeated firmly. He looked at Quistis, then Selphie, then at Rinoa. "Tell me why you would go out there after I gave explicit instructions - "

"Squall - " Rinoa started.

" – to remain in a zone of safety - "

"There wouldn't have _been_ a zone of safety if it wasn't for Rinoa," Quistis snapped irritably.

Squall pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay. Quistis…look. I just want you to know - "

"It was a joint decision," Selphie piped up.

"Well - "

"It's not her fault, Squall," Rinoa finally managed to cut in. "Don't punish her for something I did - "

"Wait. Stop," Squall held up his palms as if surrendering to the girls. "I'm not mad, and I'm not punishing her."

They all blinked at him in surprise. "You're not?"

"No. I believe you."

Selphie and Rinoa sighed in relief, but Quistis cocked her head and narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Squall.

"You're being surprisingly understanding about all this."

He glared at her. "Thanks."

Quistis crossed her arms. "Let's face it. I haven't done a whole lot these days to make you - "

"Three SeeDs died," Squall interrupted, wanting to get back to the point. "That _doesn't_ happen."

Quistis fell silent, ready for a reprimand about being responsible for three deaths.

He sighed and looked at the ground, putting his hands on his hips. "I know you're more than capable of eradicating a threat…which is why this worries me," he explained in a softer tone. "If you couldn't get rid of it yourselves…and if you needed Rinoa…then what in the hell was it that you encountered?"

"It was gross," Selphie made a face. "It was this big ugly thing that roared and spewed sticky phlegm that almost rotisseried us and was resistant to every kind of magic known to frickin' Hyne - "

"It was resistant to almost all magic and physical attacks," Quistis cut in. "Including Scan. Not even the Estharian technology could pick it up."

Squall furrowed his brows.

"We didn't know where it was until we were literally on top of it. It was burrowed deep underground, and at first we thought we were dealing with a worm." Quistis sighed and exchanged glances with Rinoa. "We were wrong. It started to eclose and transfigure into something larger…an insect of some sort…"

Squall narrowed his eyes in thought. "It's been a long time since you taught me, Quistis, so forgive me if I'm wrong…but…are you saying that you were attacked by a pupa?"

Selphie made a snorting noise. "Pupa."

"No," Quistis replied. "It was larva. Pupas aren't active…they're dormant…the larva usually precedes the pupa."

"If the larval stage _precedes_ the pupa stage, then how in the hell can larva transform directly into an insect, let alone be capable of any type of defense or attack?"

Selphie leaned over to Rinoa. "I had absolutely no idea Squall was so smart."

Rinoa shook her head. "Me either. He keeps a lot of stuff to himself."

"I'm totally lost."

"I can _hear_ you," Squall snarled back at them, giving them an annoyed look.

Selphie shrugged nonchalantly. "Just sayin'."

Quistis looked grim. "This must be something new. And we don't know if it even was an insect…it was some sort of strange hybrid…almost like a dragon…but we didn't wait long to find out."

"Seriously," Selphie crossed her arms, annoyed by the geek speak. "It's _dead_ now. Who cares about its frickin' stages?"

"There might be more of them," Squall replied flatly. "We'll need to know its growth patterns in order to kill it quickly and efficiently."

"Just throw Rinny out there! She'll get the job done!"

Squall sighed and glanced at Rinoa, who gave him a sheepish smile. "You were able to fight it off okay?"

She nodded. "I didn't overdo it."

Squall set his jaw. "Well…if you didn't have any other choice…then…"

"We didn't."

Squall glanced at Quistis. "We'll have to talk about this in Cid's office so we can file a report. My team also dealt with something similar. Though…based on your descriptions…I think we fought the mature form."

"Another one? Are you serious?" Selphie cried. "Was it bad? Did anyone get hurt?"

Squall shook his head. "No. I had - " He stopped short, realizing that Quistis had no idea that Seifer had gone along.

_I had Seifer with me,_ he was about to say. It was well known that when working together, the two renowned gunblade specialists were unstoppable in the face of the enemy. Quistis was the only other A rank in Garden, but on her own, even she had limits if the foe was incredibly strong. Normally, help from Selphie or someone else like Zell or Irvine should always be enough to get the job done…but Squall hadn't counted on any monsters requiring two A-ranks at once to dispatch it. Rinoa's powers were never to be used so extensively, never at her full power – except in the event of an emergency.

The monsters were evolving.

He glanced around, but the angry, strawberry blonde was nowhere to be found. It figured. He wasn't about to get caught in the middle. Better to let those two bump into each other on their own. "…I had plenty of help," he finished. "It's possible that the mature form might be more vulnerable than the larva in certain conditions."

Quistis played with her bottom lip, lost in thought. "Maybe."

Squall glanced at the giant clock hanging over the cafeteria entranceway. "All right. Meet up in Cid's office at 1600 hours. That should give you some time to change, prep your statements and sign anything else that needs to be signed."

Quistis nodded and looked at the clock. 1507 hours. Forty-five minutes was plenty of time to take a shower and change. She couldn't wait to get clean. The Galbadian sand had gotten everywhere – from her hair to between her toes to places she didn't even want to admit to herself. She could even smell a hint of charred worm guts in her hair and on her clothes…

"Ohhhhh sweeeeeeeet lips…?" A smooth, masculine voice called out over the quad. All three girls glanced towards the voice, while Squall rolled his eyes.

"Irvyyy!" Selphie squealed and hopped over to the tall brunette, who swept off his hat and opened his arms wide to catch her in a large hug.

"How's my favorite girl?" He spun her around and kissed her.

Quistis turned away from the scene and sighed. "I'm going to my dorm. I'll see you guys in Cid's office."

Rinoa and Squall nodded.

She turned and let out a long sigh, sore, tired, and filthy, pretending not to have noticed Squall and Rinoa holding hands.

_Alone again, as always._

Talk about déjà vu.

**_. . ._**

Upon their arrival, the SeeD teams were checking their weapons in, cleaning their guns, inspecting rifles for jams and unloading ammunition. It was a strict rule in Garden that students were to disarm and unjunction (with the exception of healing spells and level-one black magic as long as the cadet had passed specific qualifying exams), and firearms had to be checked in the warehouse, which was a new addition next to the garage that housed all the new weaponry developed and funded by Esthar and Galbadia.

Seifer strode towards the warehouse with a dark scowl etched on his face.

_Fucking Leonhart._

Why in the fuck did he send Quistis out on a mission without telling him?

…_Because I've been gone for two months,_ he thought bitterly. _Because I didn't bother to check on it myself. Because I'm still too angry and stubborn and…_

He couldn't even walk around the fountain to greet her.

_No balls, Almasy._

Talk about déjà vu.

What could he possibly say? What could he possibly do? Relief had swelled up in him the moment he knew she was all right, and he'd wanted to embrace her and forget that nothing had ever happened two months ago, but he couldn't stand in front of her in the middle of the Garden quad, smack-dab in front of all the students, without losing total control of himself.

He _was_ Seifer Almasy, SeeD Rank A, Commander of Galbadia Garden, after all. He had a reputation to uphold.

His scowl deepened. _Nah. I'm just turning into a fucking chicken-wuss. Zell and I should start a club._

Students cleared a path as he walked angrily into the warehouse, stood in front of the sign-in bench, quickly scribbled something on a clipboard and tossed it back to the cadet in charge, then unclipped a large magazine from his pulse rifle and handed both in. He yanked a second handgun from his belt, ejected the magazine, and placed that in front of the cadet as well.

"This one has firaga magic fused into the ammunition," Seifer pushed the handgun ammo towards the cadet and motioned towards the pulse rifle's clip. "This one's got flare. Be careful."

The cadet swallowed. "Flare?"

Seifer glared back. "Yeah. Why?"

"Er…we don't keep flare-infused ammunition here…"

"I know. It's mine. Don't fuck with it," Seifer instructed in a flat tone, removing his kevlar. "Put it with the rest of the squad leaders' ammunition. Mine are the ones with the red cross inscribed on them. Should be next to Commander Leonhart's."

"Yes, sir."

Seifer turned to walk out of the room when the cadet cleared his throat nervously. He turned his head. "What?"

The cadet nodded towards Seifer's belt, where Hyperion was slung. "Your gunblade, sir."

Seifer narrowed his eyes. "The gunblade stays with me."

"But…but sir…Headmaster Cid's instructions explicitly state - "

"What? What do they state?" Seifer turned around, a menacing glare on his face. "_Enlighten_ me."

The cadet swallowed, realizing he'd just made a major mistake.

"I'm _very_ familiar with the rules around here, cadet. Wanna write me up? Fuckin' go ahead. I'll ship your ass up to a remote Trabian outpost where your only hope of getting any action is with a mutated snow lion! You get me?"

The cadet stiffened at attention. "Sir, yes sir!"

The rest of the SeeDs in the room had slowed down to watch and eavesdrop. Some of them had turned away with wide-eyed expressions and stifled grins.

"Carry on, _bitch_," Seifer curled his lip and turned to walk out of the room.

One of the SeeDs removed his armor and leaned towards another, watching Seifer march out of the warehouse. "I've seen him mad before, but what in the hell put him in _that_ mood?"

The other SeeD shrugged and nodded towards cadet manning the sign-in station, whose face seemed a shade whiter. "Dunno, but it sure sucks to be the new guy."

**_. . ._**

Seifer had found his way to her room automatically, though he was telling himself to board the next transport out to Galbadia.

Why should _he_ apologize, anyway?

It wasn't exactly the fact that Rinoa was a SeeD that made him mad. Cid supported the decision and he was the one to sign the paperwork, but Seifer wasn't mad at Cid. He was mad at Quistis. He was mad because she pushed it. He was mad because she practically ignored his opinion on the matter. He was mad because…

What hurt him the most was that Quistis didn't understand the gravity of what she had done. After the war, after everything he had gone through, after everything he did to ensure their safety…Quistis spit on that. She'd completely disregarded his opinion and his experience and wanted to help a sorceress anyway. He simply didn't understand it. Even worse, he loved Quistis with all his heart, but after their argument, he couldn't see himself staying in Balamb if she insisted on continuing this shit. They just didn't know. They didn't understand. Sure, Rinoa was nice and sweet and loving now…but anything could happen. Shit, Caraway could be murdered or something and she could flip. Squall might break up with her and she could go ballistic. Who the fuck knew? Seifer wasn't going to take any chances.

He wasn't breaking up with Quistis. He'd never give her up…but at the time he was just too pissed beyond words to even deal with it. He had to leave Balamb. He had to stay in Galbadia for awhile to clear his head. The worst part about leaving, though, was leaving _her_. He'd promised himself he would never be apart from her again, especially after what he'd gone through during the war, and he hated that he had absolutely nothing to do in Galbadia besides drill trainees and talk about work. His room was empty and his bed was cold at night, and he'd only wake up to do it all over again. Immature little female Galbadian cadets always batted their eyelashes at him and gave him looks that annoyed the shit out of him, and rookies were always fucking up their protocols, battle tactics, weaponry, or anything else that would make him despair for the younger generation. He was fucking tired of it all.

That, and it had been two months since he had sex.

A part of him almost missed the orphanage gang. He had nobody to torment and there was nobody in Galbadia he could train with.

Not that he would ever admit it.

He let out a defeated sigh when he found himself staring at her door. He was incredibly surprised that the card key she gave him still worked…figured she would have reprogrammed the door code by now. Not that he'd ever lose it, but he expected Quistis to assume he'd thrown it away. A loose card key was absolute _gold_ to mindless Trepies creeping about…

Seifer curled a lip. _Fucking Trepies._

He almost wished she would've changed the lock codes just for that reason.

Or, maybe she was hoping he'd come back…?

Once he stepped into the room, though, he half-expected a punch in the face. Or flying glass. The crack of a whip. Hell, a pillow. _Something._

Nothing. The shower was running.

Seifer looked around. The room looked exactly as it did when he left. Sunlight filtered in through the pale, rosy curtains. A vase full of fresh Balamb wildflowers sat on her small coffee table –

_The fucking Trepies better not have gotten her those._

Puffy, colorful throw pillows sat neatly on her couch –

Oh, fuck yes. The couch.

He slowly walked over to it and sat down.

_Ohhhhh baby._

He didn't give a shit – his Galbadian two-room suite, complete with kitchenette, just did _not_ compare.

He pulled off his boots and sighed, glancing towards the bathroom. There was no doubt that the situation had to be remedied immediately. They'd let this shit fester long enough. Showing his face to her, though, meant that he had to apologize. As far as he was concerned, his stance on the whole thing was totally valid, if not completely in the right…but two months in Galbadia Garden by himself was too much of a bitter reminder of what happened five years ago, and he started to get incredibly pissed off at himself for letting his pride get in the way of what was truly important in his life…

…a little, meager apology should work, right?

_She's going to be so pissed._

_Fuck it. If she slaps me, she slaps me. _

A brief, fleeting image of getting kneed in the balls made him hesitate.

He grinned, shrugged, and pulled off his socks, followed by his black military pants. _Getting my ass kicked around by a naked Quistis Trepe in the shower is definitely worth it._

More than anything, he just wanted to see her again. He didn't care if he had to apologize a trillion times. He stood up, pulled off his shirt, and let out a heavy sigh.

_Here goes nothing._

**_. . ._**

_Oh, disgusting._

The sand was collecting at the shower floor, little grains getting stuck between the tile grommets, and Quistis had to use a foot to sweep the slurry towards the drain.

She'd washed her hair twice and scrubbed her skin again and again, but the sand was still coming out of nowhere. Normally, she didn't mind sand. She'd played at the beach plenty of times at the orphanage, and rolled around in the sand with the others, building castles, setting off fireworks, swimming, getting sandy seaweed in her hair…

She smiled, suddenly feeling sad.

Only Seifer put seaweed in her hair.

She closed her eyes and rinsed her hair again absent-mindedly, forcing Seifer out of her mind. It was a miracle Matron ever got them clean enough, let alone keep most of the sand out of the house.

The hot water was a little too hot, though. Spending all that time in the Galbadian sun had earned a lovely, raw sunburn across her cheeks, nose, and forehead, despite the SPF they'd all applied.

She gingerly wiped the dripping water from her face, opened one eye, turned the knob towards the blue dot to ebb the heat away, and immediately noticed movement through the glass shower door.

The door to her bathroom was opening.

Quistis automatically clutched her chest and stood back against the wall, forming a fist full of blizzaga, the ice starting to freeze around her fingers and forming a thick mist from the hot water. She braced, ready to defend herself, wondering just who in the hell would break into –

Just as fast as she was startled, however, she let out a breath of relief – even though the adrenaline was still pumping through her veins at the sight of his glossy silhouette through the glass door.

"…Seifer?"

He slowly slid open the shower door and stepped in, wearing only a pair of boxers and a white tank top. His head was lowered and he wasn't meeting her gaze. She watched him in dumbfounded surprise, shock, disbelief, and confusion as he closed the shower door silently and turned to face her. She was still hugging herself from view on instinct, since only a second ago she'd thought a stranger had entered while she was still naked.

She couldn't control the frantic pounding in her chest, wondering if she was dreaming. "Seifer…what are you…?"

He stepped towards her and slowly wrapped his arms around her, lowering his head into the crook of her neck. He emitted a sigh and squeezed her closer, as if he never wanted to let go.

She blinked and tentatively hugged him back, still surprised that he was even there…wondering if he was even real…but her hesitation was short-lived, as she found herself clutching him tightly and burying her face into his neck. The only sound she could muster was in the form of a whisper.

"What are you doing here?"

He hugged her tighter. He hadn't said a word to her, but his actions had already told her everything she needed to know.

_I'm sorry._

"Seifer…" she swallowed back tears. "…your clothes…you're getting wet…"

He closed his eyes and grinned sadly, turning his face towards her ear and smelling her hair. He caressed her wet hair slowly with one hand and held her closer with the other.

"Bossy little Quisty," he murmured back.

Her lip quivered and she hugged him tighter.

They remained there, holding each other without a word. Quistis let out a shaky sigh and tried to hold the sobs back as she kissed his neck and whispered, "Oh, Seifer. I've missed you. I've missed you so much."

He responded by hugging her tighter. There was another long pause before he spoke to her.

"Quis…you know I love you, don't you?"

Her face screwed tight and she nodded, unable to get the words out. It had been months since she heard those words from him. She always knew that he did, but he never said it unless he felt it was necessary. It was rare, but he always managed to do it at the right time.

"Yes," she warbled. "Yes, Seifer, and I want you to know that I - "

He cut her off with a hard kiss, already knowing she was going to return the sentiment. She responded with a whimper and kissed him back, completely overwhelmed by his sudden return. Seifer wasted no time; it had been a full two months since his departure and it was high time he survey every inch of her. His kisses were hungry and demanding, as were his hands as they roamed about her body, squeezing and rubbing and pressing her into him…

The wet tank top came off, as did the boxer shorts, and he shifted her closer, his head dipping down to her chest and teasing her between the thighs with his fingers…

Quistis reached down to tease him back and -

Seifer twitched. "Ai! Shit! Your hand's cold!"

Quistis retracted her hand and smiled shyly. "Sorry. I didn't know who was on the other side of the door, so - "

"You were going to blast me with a blizzard spell?"

Quistis nodded.

"I thought junctioning in Garden was against the rules," Seifer raised an eyebrow, his lips hovering over hers.

"Well, what can I say? You're a bad influence on me," she breathed, inticing an approving groan from him as he lifted her up with ease and pressed her up against the shower wall.

**_. . ._**

Forty-five minutes later, they both rushed to Cid's office, where Squall, Rinoa, and Selphie were already waiting at attention. As Quistis and Seifer fell into line, Rinoa and Selphie's faces lit up as soon as they realized that Seifer was in the room.

"Seifer! You're back!" Selphie exclaimed with a bright smile, briefly forgetting to stand at attention.

"Hey, tiny," Seifer replied with a nod.

Cid was sitting patiently at his desk, but his annoyed tone betrayed his friendly expression.

"Trepe and Almasy, you're late. I would expect better from two A-ranks."

Selphie straightened back at attention. Seifer stared ahead and cleared his throat, but said nothing. Quistis stood straighter and tried to control the rising flush in her cheeks. "Apologies, Headmaster. Won't happen again."

Cid glanced back down at his reports and said nothing further, but the other three SeeDs had to refrain from laughing. Quistis tried to ignore the slight grin that sat at the corner of Squall's mouth. Rinoa and Selphie remained silent, but they too tried to hide their smiles.

"Quistis, you were assigned to the Galbadian desert?"

"Yes, sir, by Commander Leonhart. We were investigating a monster disturbance. Reports from Timber and Galbadia were consistent and we had mapped it to lie in the desert region, just north of the prison."

"And Squall?"

"Same thing, headmaster. I received a distress call from one of the Shumi representatives and assembled a team to investigate a problem near the Shumi mines. I requested the help of Commander Almasy."

"Mm. Outcome?"

"Threat eliminated without casualties," Squall nodded. "Documentation and samples will be sent to Esthar."

Quistis looked down. "Threat eliminated, headmaster…with three KIA. Damage reports sent to Galbadia and documentation with samples will also be sent to Esthar."

Cid scribbled something on the mission reports in front of him and closed the file. He sighed, stood, and removed his glasses. "I'm going to get right to the point. I want someone to explain to me why three SeeDs were KIA out there," he glanced at all of them. "A casualty like that hasn't been reported since the Second Sorceress War. What exactly are we dealing with?"

Quistis lowered her head, but before she could respond, Rinoa stepped forward, lifting her chin. "I was called out to help them, sir."

_The bombers had come and gone, and the fiery explosions had already started to dissipate and smolder as the earsplitting roar broke out across the desert._

_It was still alive…and it was incredibly angry._

_The ground vibrated…she could almost see each little tiny grain of sand bounce off each other and shift around…and another pulse of magic almost brought Rinoa's sprint to a standstill as she quelled another wave of nausea. She put a hand to her stomach and another to her mouth, uttering a moan._

_Whatever it was, it wasn't anything she'd felt before. It was enormous. And it was evil._

_She took a deep breath and started to run again, ignoring the heeds and shouts of the other SeeDs behind her, struggling to catch up._

_Once she reached the top of a sand dune to look at the sight before her, she gasped in surprise and clenched her fists with determination._

_Burn and crater marks had been left by the bombers, and smoke still rose from the burns, but the fires were completely smoldered out by sand and the worm's own body. There was a deep fissure in the ground, and sand still rolled into it like a waterfall; it must have been the worm's lair. Only several feet away was the large, brown, fat monster – it almost looked like a grub – that suddenly let out a scathing stream of fire, causing several soldiers to dodge out of the way or block the attack with Shell. SeeDs were trying to form a perimeter around the gigantic, slithering creature. It's flailing tail caused the soldiers to dive out of the way, and others were attempting to cast various magics at it with no success. Physical attacks were utterly useless; nobody could get close enough and the use of guns was only beginning to agitate it._

_She exhaled through her nose and focused, narrowing her eyes. She started to breathe harder and felt the rush of adrenaline through her veins as she opened her palms, arms lowered to her sides, and stared at the creature. She focused on the atmosphere and gripped it; bending space and creating a large, purple and black vacuum that floated over the worm. She released the spell with a grunt, and as it expanded and contracted, Rinoa was already running down the sand dune towards Quistis and Selphie._

_It was still writhing in pain from the first Demi attack, but she didn't have much time. She had to act now. The bombing from Selphie's unit didn't do anything at all to damage it; instead, it induced a bizarre metamorphosis that they had to silence immediately before things got worse._

"_Rinny!" Selphie exclaimed. "Holy crap!"_

"_I'm here!" Rinoa immediately cast Regen on the nearby team without even using her hands. "Are you all right?"_

_The worm responded in a loud, gurgling roar. They all stared at it in horror as it started to spasm and curl, its skin tearing apart and releasing more gas-like fluid. The toothy mouth released greenish phlegm that fell to the ground in gigantic droplets and spontaneously burst into flame._

"_Methane gas," Quistis breathed. "Hyne. What is that?"_

_Rinoa gaped up at the creature and glanced to the leader, waiting for instructions. "Quistis?"_

_She didn't respond. She stared up at the metamorphosizing worm and her brows knit together, as she was trying to think._

"_Quisty?" Selphie asked nervously. "What do we do?"_

_Quistis shook her head in horror. "…I don't know. There's no way we can take it down with our numbers." She suddenly looked at Rinoa and straightened. "Rinoa. You have to stop it. Now. Do you understand what I'm asking you to do?"_

_Rinoa looked at her and swallowed. Quistis was requesting that she use her full power, no holds barred; something she was forbidden to do otherwise. She nodded and took a deep breath. Without even moving, she simply closed her eyes and started to glow several different colors as Regen, Aura, Shell, and Protect engulfed her. She took two steps forward and held her palms out._

"_Stand back."_

_The SeeDs complied as Quistis relayed the order to retreat, and Rinoa took a few more steps towards the creature, glaring up at it._

_She didn't have any idea how she knew to use Demi, but it worked, and that's all that mattered. She felt the earth, the air, and the magic that flowed through it…she felt the draw points under the ground, and she somehow felt the life forms around her. She felt who was junctioned, she felt Quistis's unique blue magic signature, and she felt the monster in front of her. She clenched her jaw._

_It didn't like ice. It didn't like water._

_She let out a yell and pushed her palms forward and up, as if lifting something heavy and invisible. With an earsplitting crack, the sandy earth split, cracks forming every which way and forming spidery openings that spread out further from the original sink hole the worm had created. Selphie and Quistis had jumped back in surprise and ordered the other SeeDs to stay back, but the noise was drowned out in Rinoa's ears. She didn't hear anything. She only felt the magic._

_Rushing water emerged from the sand and engulfed the worm from the bottom, rising up over it, and curling around it in a cyclone. The worm tried to fight back and wriggle out of the spell, but with one hand, Rinoa held onto the water and controlled it, forming an impenetrable wall of magic. With the other hand, she forced the water spell into ice, and the enormous water cyclone – now blowing the cold wind around them, the sand stinging her eyes and skin – began to slow down and turn a pale shade of blue as the water slowly became rigid and hard. Loud cracks and dull pops could be heard as the water froze into ice right before their eyes, as if a gigantic glacier had been sitting in the middle of the desert all along. It imprisoned the creature, its howls and roars drowned out by the wall of blue ice. Eventually, it stopped moving, and the dull pops started to subside._

_Selphie gazed up at the large chunk of ice in awe. "Whoa. That's fucking badass."_

_Quistis and a few cadets glanced at her. She blinked and glanced back at them. "What? So I can swear."_

_Rinoa started to breathe harder, her palms still out, as if she were trying to hold the ice together._

"_Rinoa? What is it?" Quistis stepped forward, concerned._

"_It's…it's fighting me," she breathed. "Tell your team to get into position…are they junctioned with Thundaga?"_

"_They'd better be," Quistis replied darkly._

"_Tell them to form a perimeter around it, and when I give the signal, they need to unleash Thundaga simultaneously, otherwise it won't work," Rinoa breathed, her fingers curling slightly, feeling the cramp in her wrists. "Hurry."_

_Quistis quickly relayed the orders through her microphone and the surrounding SeeDs immediately started to swarm around the glacier, getting in position and maintaining a safe distance._

_There was a loud pop, and a deep crack appeared in the ice. Rinoa closed one eye and winced, slightly retracting her palms, but then pushed them forward again. Her breaths grew quicker and her hands started to shake. "Quistis?"_

"_Ready!" Quistis yelled, holding her own palms out, ready to strike. Selphie followed suit._

"_NOW!" Rinoa retracted her hands and fell to her knees, grabbing a wrist._

_As soon as the order left Quistis's mouth, the sky grew dark and bolts of Thundaga peppered the block of ice, forming a current through the water molecules and creating a gigantic surge of electricity throughout it. The worm, having nowhere to go, wriggled and struggled in pain, emitting muffled roars. The ice responded from the strain with loud pops and cracks started to spread throughout the block._

_Triple-casts of thundaga hit the worm again and again, until the ice had started to melt from the heat and the block finally broke apart, the ice crumbling down into a large heap around the worm, which was now weakened and charred from the relentless attacks. It sunk down to the ground, limp, as the ice crumbled around it and water seeped out into the sand, but as if committing a last act of desperation, the worm lifted its head and its body expanded, as if taking a deep breath, to attempt to launch a stream of fire towards some cadets._

_Reading its movements, Quistis was quick to act. She pressed her earbud and yelled, "Use your grenade launcher! As soon as that thing opens its mouth, fire one and get the hell out of there!"_

_The SeeDs didn't give her a verbal response, but Quistis, Selphie, and Rinoa watched from the top of the dune as one SeeD down below quickly heaved a large weapon from his back; another SeeD pulled some ammunition from his belt and helped load it, then a third SeeD stood behind the first SeeD, who had knelt down to aim, in order to steady the weapon and give the signal. As soon as the worm's jagged-toothed mouth opened wider, the third SeeD yelled something inaudible, patted the aiming SeeD's head, and the large RPG launched from the weapon, straight into the worm's mouth. The SeeDs immediately scattered out of the way, and as soon as the worm started to release its breath, a series of multiple explosions erupted from inside its body, splitting the slimy mass apart in several sections. With a loud roar, the worm toppled over as pieces of it blew apart into fiery, gooey, charred guts and skin._

_Quistis released a breath she didn't know she was holding and the SeeDs cheered all around her. Most of them were surrounding the creature, making sure it was eliminated, and Selphie immediately ordered her pilots in so they could start airlifting the wounded out of there._

"_Blue Leader?" A SeeD was at her side, waiting for orders. "The kill has been confirmed. Permission to move in and collect samples?"_

_Quistis blinked and her gaze turned towards the large crater that the worm had emerged from. "Later. Retrieve our KIA. Get them out of there."_

_The SeeD saluted. "Yes, ma'am."_

_Quistis glanced down at Rinoa, who was still on her knees, and she knelt down with her. "Rinoa? Are you all right?"_

_Rinoa examined her wrists and palms. "I'm okay. Sore, but okay." She glanced up at Quistis with a nervous smile. "Some first mission, huh?"_

_Quistis's brows furrowed. "Rinoa…your nose…it's…"_

_Rinoa's hand went up to her nostrils and she looked at her fingers. "Oh…oh…it's not bad…it happens sometimes when I use a very strong spell…"_

"_Here…" Quistis gave her a handkerchief and Rinoa dabbed at her nose. "Are you sure you're all right?"_

"_Yes, I'm fine. It's happened before. This isn't too bad at all. Edea said that this would happen sometimes. I'm okay."_

"It was a Lunar Cry hybrid," Quistis replied. "Yet nothing on that scale has ever been recorded. We think it was a highly-evolved worm species capable of skipping at least two developmental stages during its life cycle – stages essential to any other normal worm species – and also somehow combined its physiology with that of predatory arthropods - "

"And dragons," Seifer snorted.

"Dragons?" Cid raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't believe it either," Seifer crossed his arms, the only one in line no longer standing at attention.

"_Hyne," Squall breathed, leaning on his gunblade. The cold, thin air certainly didn't help things. He could barely breathe – he was pretty sure that his snot had frozen and his mouth had gone incredibly dry, making breathing difficult. He swallowed and stared up at the angry monster, which was in the middle of battling a few SeeDs. In addition to being a slow creature, it was at a disadvantage in the cold weather, and it practically had no eyesight due to the blinding white snow. Therefore, avoiding its attacks was easy – but finding its weak spot through all the tough armor was a different story. They hadn't even injured it yet._

"_What is that thing? How do we kill it?"_

"_Dunno, but this Estharian equipment sucks balls," Seifer tossed the binoculars into the snow in disgust. "I thought Loire was on our side?"_

"_They've worked in the past," Squall pointed out. "I don't know why they're not working now. It's not something we have time to figure out."_

_So far, Seifer had managed to slice off its pincers, but that was about it. The flaming, venomous bile that the monster ejected at them was still a major threat, and it almost didn't even seem to mind that it was missing a few digits. If it really wanted to, it could lunge and snap at a SeeD, which would be just as effective as using a pincer._

"_I have one more idea," Seifer cracked his neck. "You can go along with this if you want to…but if it doesn't work, we're fucked."_

_Squall narrowed his eyes at him. "I really hate it when you say 'I've got an idea.'"_

"_Why?"_

"_Ever since you led us up that mountain in Dollet, everything's gone to hell in a handbasket."_

_Seifer grinned. "I'll consider that a compliment." He pressed his earbud and barked, "Stop using up your fucking ammo! It's obviously not working! Just distract it and piss it off – Alpha and I are going to go for its underbelly."_

_Squall glanced at the monster. "You think its ventral side is unprotected?"_

"_It's ventral side? Hyne, you sound so gay when you use scientific lingo."_

"_Stop acting like a jock and make your point."_

"_Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk, I'm a woman's man; no time to talk," Seifer started to sing in a ridiculously exaggerated high-pitched voice._

_Squall slammed a palm into his forehead and rubbed his eyes, forcing back the urge to punch him. The thought of Seifer singing was just…wrong. Hearing him sing was downright painful._

"_Music loud and women warm, I've been kicked around since I was born," Seifer nonchalantly checked his blade, "and now it's all right, it's ok, and you may look the oth - " his voice cracked and he coughed. _

_Squall let out an irritated sigh through his nose as he tried to ignore Seifer's chuckling cough and focused on the hideous monster in front of them, which was distracted by other SeeDs trying to lure it towards a large network of ropes that had been laid in the snow – along with charges._

"_Oh, fuck," Seifer coughed again and cleared his throat. "I think my dick just shrunk."_

"_Do that again and I'll slice your head off," Squall curled a lip at him, disgusted._

"_Agreed. Thanks for the favor," Seifer chuckled. "Do you think it worked?"_

_The monster suddenly glanced their way and let out an earsplitting roar._

"_You damn near made blood come out of _my _ears," Squall gripped his gunblade tighter, "but no. Thanks for nothing."_

_Seifer stared at Squall in surprise. "Was that a joke, Puberty? Did you just actually attempt to – hey!"_

_Squall had sprinted off towards the monster, his gunblade glowing a white-blue. Seifer sighed and followed suit, letting out a loud bellow and holding his gunblade forward with one hand, pushing magic into the weapon until it glowed orange._

_They sliced at it and jabbed at it, but the armor was too thick. Their only hope was to gain access to its underside – and if Seifer was right, they'd be able to kill it quickly. The only problem was trying to flip it over – or, at least, getting it to hold still long enough to trigger an explosion under it._

_Their efforts pushed the monster towards a string of explosives, where SeeDs had enough time to place in the snow while the others were distracting it. Squall had stepped on a few as he tried to coax the monster into following him, glad that the charges would be triggered electronically and not by weight. _

"_Fuck!" Seifer swore, ducking and taking a swing at its tail. "Let's hurry this shit up so we can go home!"_

_Squall, who was on the other side, opened his palm and released a string of blizzaga attacks at its head, turning its attentions back towards the front, coaxing it to move forward._

_It was almost over the snare. Just a little more…_

_Squall jumped out of the way. So did Seifer._

"_NOW!"_

_The surrounding SeeDs crouched down as a sudden ripple of explosions blasted out from under the monster._

_The gigantic creature emitted a pained roar and fell to the ground at once, its insect-like legs kicking out from under it but seeming to work improperly. Blackish-green liquid started to ooze out from under it, staining the snow, and they knew that it was finally injured. SeeDs had already surrounded the monster and were attempting to restrain it with thick cables as the black smoke started to dissipate._

_Suddenly, the insect's tail curled around, forming an arc over its body, and a bluish-white orb appeared out of thin air above it. The orb slowly grew bigger, and was blinding – almost as if it was a starburst in space._

"_Holy _fuck_," Seifer stared at the creature, clenching his teeth. "No _way_."_

"_SHELL! BACK AWAY! RETREAT! SHELL, NOW!" Squall barked out, casting shell on himself and Seifer, backing away and bracing for the attack._

"_STOP IT! DISPEL THAT SHIT!" Seifer ordered._

"_TOO LATE! SHELL AND REGEN - " Squall yelled out, grabbing Seifer's arm and forcing him back, then was interrupted by the spell as the orb grew larger and was released, engulfing the entire team._

_Everyone screamed out in pain and the SeeDs fell to the ground, most of them not getting up. Seifer was forced to his knees, winded, Squall following suit, his grip still on Seifer's arm._

_There was an agonizing pause._

"_Ohhhh son of a bitch," Seifer groaned and stood up, casting curaga on him and Squall. "How in the fuck can a monster like that cast Ultima - "_

"_Get up," Squall ordered the other SeeDs through his com. "If you have curaga, use it. Cast Full-Life and Regen immediately. Get the wounded out of here."_

"_Copy that, Alpha Leader."_

"_The rest of you – back off," Seifer followed up with another command. "I'm tired of this shit." He glanced at Squall. Squall nodded._

"_I'll get rid of the tail."_

_He trotted off towards the monster's flank while Seifer slowly walked to the front, maintaining a safe distance from it. The monster was attempting to stand back up with partial success; the spell had burned away most of the cables and it was now again freed, but still injured. Seifer lifted Hyperion and stared at the blade, forcing the rising adrenaline and rage into magic, channeling it to the weapon. _

_Black ooze flew past him and landed with a sickening thud in the snow. Noxious fumes started to rise from the puddle as the snow melted._

_Seifer maintained his concentration on the blade, but he knew that the injured monster was trying to spit at him._

"_Squall, whatever you're going to do, make it fast!"_

_Another black blob flew towards Seifer, but he held up a hand and deflected the poison with a quick spell. With the other hand, he raised Hyperion and pointed it at the monster, the ground around him beginning to glow orange._

_The monster let out a loud growl and started to lift its tail again, curling the stinger and readying for another magic attack._

_With a loud bellow, Squall suddenly flew into the air and sliced at the creature's tail, his blade white-hot and glowing a pale blue. The creature uttered a screech as the tail toppled over like a cut tree, and Seifer took his chance._

_He slammed Hyperion into the snow, tip first, and the entire ground lit up with an incantation; an enormous, fiery-red cross started to glow at his feet. Seifer stood at the center of the firecross, just at the intersection, and the monster was standing on top of the tip, where the bottom of the cross was, almost as if his spell was an arrow pointing at the enemy. The enormous firecross was encircled by a ring of fire, and as Seifer let go of the blade, he let out a loud yell and pushed his palms toward the monster._

_Fire erupted from the ground, following the trail of the cross, and sliced through the monster. With a loud roar – this time, high-pitched and strained – the monster fell aside, its belly completely torn open. It let out a few more pained grunts and whimpers until it finally slumped over into spasms and growls, attempting to right itself but failing miserably. Seifer's spell dissipated and he let out a few heavy breaths, wrenching his blade out of the ground and heaving it over his shoulder._

"_Now! Now!" Squall was yelling and motioning for the rest of the SeeDs to move in. "Grenades! Finish it!"_

"_Flare that son of a bitch," Seifer added, walking slowly towards the dying monster, letting the cadets do the rest of the work. "Cook the damn thing from the inside out."_

Cid blinked. "Are you telling me that you fought a hybrid capable of breathing fire and burrowing underground?"

Quistis, Rinoa, Selphie, and Squall nodded.

"We fought the mature form," Squall responded. "Apparently Quistis's team encountered the larval form."

Cid furrowed his brows. "Well, we can't confirm that they were the same species until tests from Esthar come back…but still. Two similar species across separate continents…they're moving fast. Faster than before."

There was a brief silence in the room.

"Do you think…this is something to be concerned about, headmaster?" Quistis asked softly.

He glanced at Quistis. "Well…we know they're evolving at an unprecedented pace. It's something that we've never seen before. This is only from the second Lunar Cry in history to have taken place, but…it is troubling…"

"Excuse me, headmaster," Selphie stepped forward meekly. "This might be a stupid question…but why is this such a big deal? If they're evolving, so what? There are plenty of SeeDs and soldiers that can just kill 'em off, right? It's not like nobody's dealt with Lunar Cry hybrids before."

Everyone glanced at the headmaster.

He sighed and slowly sat down. "I'm afraid it's more complicated than that, Selphie."

The SeeDs waited in bated silence for the headmaster to continue.

"We've seen this pattern once before," Cid spoke slowly and carefully, as if he didn't really want to talk about it. "It was correlated to the rise of an evil sorceress."

Nobody spoke, but his words hung ominously in the air.

"When Adel came into power…and when her magical abilities were at their peak…there was a strange side effect," Cid continued. "The draw points went dry. Monsters brought down from the Lunar Cry had tremendous magical capacity, and they were very, very strong. Something had happened to the magic flow within the earth and the magic that Adel had gained control of. She was able to rally the monsters to her side, and her magic was unbelievably strong...while the magical flow within the earth grew weaker and weaker. To this day, Doctor Odine hasn't been able to figure out exactly why, or how, that happened. We do know, however, that it's party the reason why troops had such a hard time taking her down and why Odine's research had been so extensively funded."

"If Adel was so powerful, what did she want with a bunch of orphans?" Seifer asked.

"You have a good memory, Seifer," Cid nodded. "And that's a good question – but we can only speculate. Odine has hypothesized that Adel was probably possessed by Ultimecia, and as we all know, she wanted to compress time by using Ellone's power. She was probably searching for Ellone."

"Why haven't we seen the same magic effects when Edea was possessed?" Squall asked.

"That's also a good question. Remember that Adel was a very powerful sorceress – and she was also very evil. The woman willingly accepted Ultimecia's reign on her mind. Edea, however…did the opposite. She fought every day to keep Ultimecia's powers from consuming her…and while you obviously saw the toll it took, it wasn't nearly as terrible as the First Sorceress War. This probably also resulted in weaker monsters…a weaker Lunar Cry…but it's all speculation, of course."

"Are you saying that there's a possibility of this 'side effect' re-occurring?" Seifer asked. "That this could be a sign of…another sorceress?"

The question floated heavily in the room and there was a grim silence, although he asked the question that everyone else was too afraid to ask. Rinoa looked down at the floor, feeling uncomfortable. Squall shot Seifer a quick glare.

After a pause, Cid shook his head and replied in a reassuring voice, "I don't think so. Just because a sorceress is in the vicinity doesn't mean that this happens. Edea, for example, was a sorceress for years. Adel was too, even when she was a child." He glanced around at the SeeDs and let out a deep sigh. "I might as well address the obvious Wendigo sitting in the room. Edea is better at this than I am, but…" he trailed off and put his hands behind his back, looking stern. "Now – does this happen when a sorceress gains power? Yes. Significantly. Does this mean that since Rinoa has been learning about her powers and promoted to SeeD, monsters will start responding? No. It's like I said – Ultimecia was present during this phenomenon, not a good-hearted sorceress. Furthermore, she chose an evil path and had those creatures at her beck and call. There's a difference. I will not even _begin_ to point fingers until there is significant proof of the matter, and I expect you to do the same. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

They all stood at rigid attention. "Sir."

Cid glanced at Rinoa and smiled gently. "Don't you worry about it, honey."

She nodded, not looking convinced.

"Now, that being said, I still want to keep a close eye on this. It's very possible that this could be a fluke, nothing more," Cid reminded them. "Again, more research will have to be performed on this matter and, unfortunately, we won't know for sure until something else of this caliber pops up again - "

"How do we know that it's not Odine's _research_ that's causing this?" Seifer curled his lip in disdain.

The monster extraction was a dangerous new practice proposed by Odine. Soldiers were to capture the beasts - if they were from the Lunar Cry, even better – and all sorts of studies were performed on them in order to develop alternative junctioning and coupling the powers to weapons. Status effects and elemental magic had already been applied to ammunition years ago, but Odine was taking all of it a step further, using the mysterious GF application towards it instead. The monster research, at least, took his mind off of sorceress work, which he had been obsessing about until the destruction of the Junction Machine Ellone files.

"The administrations – both Estharian and Galbadian – are watching Operation Swordfish very closely," Cid replied. "The Gardens receive monthly reports, and if there are any problems, we hear about it first. If President Loire so much as thinks that there's anything wrong with the project, he'll pull the plug, and Odine won't risk losing his funding. To date, there hasn't been a documented trend between the captures and monster uprisings…although it's a plausible thought."

"Operation Swordfish?" Selphie furrowed her brows. "Why 'swordfish?'"

"Laguna likes swordfish," Squall rolled his eyes. After glancing at Selphie's curious stare, he added quickly, "Don't ask me how I know that."

The damn things were plastered all over his office. The man loved to go to Fisherman's Horizon and catch all sorts of gigantic marine life.

"Sir Laguna's so silly," Selphie grinned.

Squall rolled his eyes again.

"As it stands, this has only been the second instance within five months," Cid continued. "It's a high-profile case because of the deaths…which are unfortunate." He lowered his head and shook it. "I've written so many letters, but it never gets any easier. One more family to contact."

"Um…just one?" Rinoa asked sadly.

"Two of the SeeDs were orphans," Cid replied.

Rinoa looked down.

"Anyway, good work nonetheless. Your actions should be commended. Were it not for you SeeDs, more innocent lives would have been lost. That's what you're here for and that's what you'll continue to do – protect the innocent. Quistis and Squall, I appreciate your submitting the reports to Esthar. I'll finish up the paperwork on my end and inform Trabia and Galbadia." Cid glanced over at Seifer. "Staying for awhile?"

Seifer nodded. "As long as Galbadia can spare me."

Cid nodded. "Good. Welcome back, Seifer."

"Thank you, sir."

"Yeah! Welcome back, you big ol' hunk of hulk!" Selphie grinned.

"I'll step on your head," Seifer replied in a dead-serious tone.

Selphie giggled.

Cid sighed. "You're all dismissed. Oh – except for Squall. I'd like to talk to you about Zell."

"Yes, sir."

The rest of the SeeDs saluted and started to shuffle out of the room.

"Permission to have SeeD Almasy present," Squall added.

Cid raised an eyebrow, looking just as surprised as Seifer, who was on his way out of the office with Quistis but stopped short after hearing his name. After a pause, Cid nodded. "Granted. Seifer, this will only take a few minutes."

Seifer slowly walked back into formation, giving Squall a questionable glance.

Once the door was closed, Cid leaned back on his desk and crossed his arms. "Squall…what do you propose we do about him?"

"I believe it was an accident, sir," Squall replied. "A dumb accident…but an honest one. I don't think banishing him from Garden would be a good idea. He's an asset."

"I agree," Cid nodded slowly. "But this has to be remedied."

"Yes, sir."

"Uh…what?" Seifer raised an eyebrow, still not standing at attention.

"Approximately three weeks ago, Zell was ordered to take teams of cadets out into the field for a live-fire training exercise," Cid explained. "There were three teams total. Zell was in charge of coordinating the formations and the modes of attack."

"Yeah, I know. We all had to go through this," Seifer crossed his arms. "Chicken-wuss is still blowing missions?"

"He can't keep his mouth shut," Squall replied flatly.

"No! Really?" Seifer replied sarcastically.

"Not only did he break a dozen rules regarding the code of conduct," Cid sighed, "he mentioned names and locations over radio contact - "

"Can't imagine Zell doing something like that," Seifer rolled his eyes.

"- but that's not the worst of it. There was miscommunication within the ranks which resulted in misfire accident."

Seifer blinked and glanced at Squall. Squall nodded grimly. Seifer glanced back at the Headmaster. "He _shot_ someone?"

"It was during an attack," Squall replied in an exasperated voice. "It wouldn't have been so bad if he would just learn to control himself. He was too angry at the weapon – claiming it'd misfired – to even notice that he wounded someone."

"He shot someone," Seifer repeated in a practiced, steady voice, not knowing whether or not it was a laughing matter. "…He didn't…kill a cadet, did he?"

"No, no," Cid waved a hand. "The SeeD's all right. He'll be back on his feet in no time. He's in Dr. Kadowaki's office right now, as a matter of fact, eating all the ice cream he could ever stomach."

"Who was it?"

"Raijin," Squall grumbled.

Seifer let out a snort and immediately tried to stifle the laugh, unsuccessfully attempting to cover up his expression with concern. "Raijin? Zell shot _Raijin_?"

Cid pursed his lips grimly. "In the rear, I'm afraid."

Seifer stared at Cid. "Zell shot Raijin in the ass?"

"It was just a freak accident, nothing more," Cid shook his head and raised a palm, as if trying to keep the situation from escalating into something humorous. "Anyone could have done this. All SeeDs are new to the equipment…it just happened to be Zell's unlucky day."

"He shot _Raijin_ in the _ass_," Seifer repeated, trying to hold back his laughter, but it was no use. "Oh, Hyne! Dincht shot Raijin in the ass!" He couldn't help it any longer. He was laughing. Hard.

Squall concentrated hard on the design of Cid's rug and pressed his lips together, refusing to laugh.

Cid cleared his throat. "It's not an amusing matter, Seifer."

Seifer laughed harder, bending over to hold his knees. He held a finger up and nodded, as if he needed a minute to recollect himself, and he tried to stop and say something – anything – but was interrupted with more laughter.

Seifer's laughing made Squall crack a grin. His chest started to shake with silent chuckles.

Cid glanced at both of them and let out a loud sigh. "If you must. At ease."

Squall's pursed grin broke out into a wide smile and he shook his head, releasing a laugh.

Seifer wiped at an eye, his voice rising an octave. "I can't – how can – how do you - ?"

He never finished. The two were laughing too hard.

Cid looked up and sighed, as if silently asking a higher order for patience.

"…so retarded…" Seifer gasped for air.

"That will do," Cid glared at them sternly. "He's lucky he didn't aim any higher."

The two SeeDs gained control of themselves and cleared their throats, standing straighter.

"For the time being, Zell has been put on strict probation and has been temporarily suspended from Garden," Cid continued. "He's in Balamb right now, waiting until further instructions. I was planning on sending him a letter, giving him permission to return, but I wanted to speak with Commander Leonhart about it first. It seems he'd like you to help with his punishment, Seifer."

Seifer crossed his arms and glanced at Squall. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. I don't want to kick him out but he's got to learn how to control himself. If he doesn't…then…"

"And what makes you think I'm your man? You _hate_ my tactics on the field."

"But your tactics work, and that's all that matters. You save lives, you don't endanger them."

Seifer shrugged, satisfied.

"You two can talk this over yourselves," Cid waved a hand. "Whatever you decide, I trust your judgment. I'll send a courier to Balamb this afternoon and we'll arrange for Zell to be back by next week. Agreed?"

The two SeeDs nodded.

"You'll report his progress to me. I'm confident that Zell will improve…he just needs to learn a few essential skills, I'm afraid."

"An understatement," Seifer muttered under his breath.

"That will be all," Cid nodded to them. "You're dismissed. Let me know how things are going – oh, and Squall, when you get another mission request, let me know. I want to stay informed on this monster phenomenon."

"Yes, sir."

"Seifer, have you contacted Martine about this?"

"Doin' it on my way out, sir."

"Good. I'll see you all later, then."

The two SeeDs saluted and left the room. Cid circled his desk, slowly sat down, and rubbed his forehead. He picked up a small phone and dialed a button.

"This is Headmaster Cid. Ready a transport and chart a course for the Centran continent."

. . .

Ellone walked down the large hallway, which was bustling with doctors and scientists in white lab coats. She wrapped her shawl tighter and folded her hands together, feeling chilly – why were laboratories and hospitals so cold all the time? – and headed towards a specific office. The thick wooden door was open, and she peeked around the frame to knock lightly.

"Excuse me…um…doctor?"

"Why, Ellone! This is a pleasant surprise! Come in! Please, sit! Can I get you anything to drink? Water? Coffee?"

"No, thank you," she smiled and sat in a leather armchair across from the head researcher, Dr. Viedt, who was only a little older than Laguna. His neatly trimmed dark brown hair was beginning to gray, but he was a friendly man; a war veteran who had two teenage children and a beautiful, blonde wife. Pictures of them were scattered all throughout his office, as well as certificates of achievement and an official recruitment letter from Dr. Odine to be assigned to his team.

Dr. Viedt was all too familiar with Ellone's history. Ever since the Second Sorceress war, he had monitored her coma while she was unconscious for a lengthy amount of time. When she was finally brought out of it, they kept a close eye on her at President Loire's behest, and it seemed as if she'd never fully recovered. Ellone had always been slightly meek, but she had been weak and frail since time compression. She was progressing nicely, however, and her recovery from the obvious trauma was very positive. From time to time, Ellone would visit Dr. Viedt's office to update him on anything that would seem out of the ordinary – or, if things were fine.

Today was an unscheduled visit.

Dressed in a dark blue dress and wrapped in a white shawl, Ellone's pale face looked upon Dr. Viedt with a friendly, smiling expression. Her short hair was pulled back by a single barette. She crossed her ankles and folded her hands together.

"I apologize for coming in without making an appointment, doctor. I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Not at all! You're always welcome to drop by, Ellone. What can I do for you?"

"Well, it…it might be nothing, but…I wanted to tell you, just in case." She looked down and played with a fingernail.

Dr. Viedt's brows furrowed. "Is everything all right?"

"Yes, everything's fine…but…"

"You had another nightmare."

Ellone looked up at him and nodded.

Dr. Viedt licked his lips and nodded in thought. "Ellone, I would say to you that it's completely normal, but I suppose after five years you're getting tired of hearing that."

Ellone gave him a small smile.

"Recurring dreams happen often," the doctor continued. "For some, it's one specific image that comes and goes. Sometimes it can happen for days on end…sometimes it might happen every few years."

"Yes…I know…it's just that this one was different from the rest."

"And…you're sure it was a nightmare? You didn't accidentally connect in your sleep, did you?"

Ellone shook her head. "No. I can tell between connections and dreams. Connections are very real…and dreams…I suppose are a bit more outlandish in comparison. It's hard to explain."

"Ah."

"Besides…I can't connect to myself."

"So your dream only had you in it?"

"Yes. I was…I was at the orphanage. It was dark, like there was a storm coming. All I could hear was the crashing of the sea…nobody else was there. The horizon was red…the sea was almost black…it was…" She shuddered. "It was so scary."

The doctor remained silent, nodding.

"Anyway, I was standing on the shore…just looking out to sea…and something was coming. I don't know what it was, and I didn't even see anything, I just felt it. I was just so afraid…and then the sound of the sea got louder and louder…just…white noise…and the waves started to rise up…and…I couldn't run, I couldn't move…then I woke up."

The doctor nodded grimly. "Mm-hmm. It sounds like your memories of before…resurfacing…"

"I don't understand how I can have memories of something I don't remember…"

"Ellone, have you ever awoken knowing you dreamt of something…but couldn't remember the dream? You knew you had a dream…but you couldn't describe it…?"

Ellone nodded. "Yes…"

"It's similar to that. Whatever you've experienced during time compression, wherever your consciousness was locked during that particular pocket of space, it's possible that you encountered something that you have no memory of. Time compression was just one big jumbled memory pool, really. Nothing that would make sense to the conscious mind."

Ellone nodded. "Mmm…"

"Your dreaming of it is simply your subconscious emerging, that's all. It happens all the time."

"I know, doctor…and I know you've already explained it to me a dozen times…I just…feel better when I hear it again…"

"I understand."

"I know it's probably nothing to worry about…but…I just wanted to tell someone. Anyone. Just in case something does happen…you'll have it documented…"

"Ellone. Nothing is going to happen. You're deep in our care, as well as in President Laguna's care. If someone does try to get to you, we'll know about it. You're perfectly safe."

She blinked and looked down. "I just…I hate feeling so helpless. I wish there was something I could do…instead of running to your office every single time I have a nightmare."

The doctor smiled. "Nonsense. It's no trouble."

"I don't really know who else to go to about this sort of thing."

His brows furrowed. "What about your father? Surely he could help - "

Ellone shook her head and gave the doctor a sad smile. "He's been very busy. Presidential matters, I'm afraid. Sometimes he's gone for weeks on end."

The doctor nodded. "It's tough, being an elected official, I'm sure. But rest assured, Ellone…you're a welcome face in these parts, even though it may be a dull research facility."

Ellone smiled.

"There are others you can talk to, any time of the day, if you wish. My research lab is just across the way, if you're ever curious about what goes on in there. I'm sure my scientists would love a break from the monotonous routine once in awhile."

Ellone perked, looking interested. "…Really? But…wouldn't I get in trouble? Don't I need…um…security clearance or something?"

The doctor chuckled and shook his head. "Unless your father doesn't like you hanging around a bunch of boring, nerdy researchers, you'll be fine."

"…Um…what about Dr. Odine?" her friendly features turned slightly apprehensive.

The doctor shook his head. "I'm well aware of the fact that he's not to be anywhere near you, and I would never allow that. The man may be my boss, but he's hardly ever here. He's in a different research facility, in a building connected to this one. He's restricted to only a few labs and never allowed outside the area unless it's with an escort. Besides, you're more than welcome to bring an escort if you ever feel uncomfortable around here."

Ellone nodded, looking relieved.

The doctor folded his hands together. "Do you think it would put your mind at ease if you knew what was going on behind those doors?"

Ellone licked her lips and looked at the ground. "Well…"

"I think that perhaps you're still feeling apprehensive due to the fact that your father and his administration now control these research facilities – facilities that you were once brought to as a child, and research that your father had fought to prevent."

She slowly nodded. "Mm-hmm."

"I can understand why it would make you uneasy, which is why I'm inviting you to tour our labs. Once you come to understand the purpose of the research, I think you'll have a much better time trying to sleep at night. You'll probably find that Operation Swordfish is a peaceful operation and completely the opposite of what you might think."

Ellone looked up with a grin. "Operation Swordfish, hm? Don't tell me that my father came up with that."

The doctor chuckled. "He sure did…although…it's not exactly an operation. We don't usually give research a name."

"That's the soldier in him," Ellone giggled. "He always wanted to make everything sound so noble and important."

"Even so, we work with the SeeD peacekeepers to develop alternative junctioning in order to prevent casualties in battle," he responded. "No kidnapping little children, no evil sorceress research, no inhumane experiments. You'll find the labs perfectly safe."

Ellone smiled. "Well…all right. If I won't be a bother to any of the researchers…"

"Of course not. I insist."

Ellone rose out of her chair. "Would it be fine if I dropped by sometime next week, then?"

The doctor smiled and nodded. "I'll tell my researchers to expect company."

* * *

**_Author's Note:_** Seifer sings _"Stayin' Alive"_ by the Bee Gees. If you listen to it, it'll probably make blood come out of your ears, then shrink your dick.


	4. VENUS

Squall and Seifer were standing in the quad, discussing Zell, after leaving Cid's office. Normally, Seifer wouldn't allow Squall to give him orders, let alone set up a mission without his consent, but the circumstances were different since Cid was in charge of both of them. It was an odd combination since Squall had been the commander of Garden while Seifer was the commander of the Galbadian army and a Balamb emissary for Galbadia Garden. They both had an equal amount of experience, not to mention fighting skills, and they refused to take orders from each other. Two commanders were better than one, but they always had to work separately.

_Too many chiefs and not enough Indians,_ Irvine had said once.

So, when Seifer had agreed to Squall's idea about training Zell, it had surprised both of them. Unfortunately, it only emphasized how important it was to get Zell under control. Either Zell Dincht would follow correct SeeD protocol, or he would be ejected from Garden for good.

Seifer had always thought Zell was a chicken-wuss, but he didn't want the punk to be kicked out. He knew what it felt like, to be on the outside looking in. It sucked. And he knew that Zell had always wanted to be a soldier – since the orphanage. They all did. It was…their destiny.

Besides, Zell was good at what he did. He was just an idiot sometimes.

Seifer put a hand on his hip and shook his head, glancing towards the medical wing. "I can't believe he shot Raijin."

"At least he didn't do it on purpose. And I don't really blame him – this Estharian equipment has been a little confusing to handle lately," Squall rubbed the back of his head.

"That's because we're relying on fucking Odine," Seifer curled a lip. "I'm not surprised that this shit doesn't work."

"It's only a recent anomaly," Squall replied. "Somehow it has to do with the sudden power surge within the monsters - "

"Yeah, yeah, so what in the hell do you want me to do with Zell?" Seifer crossed his arms, impatient. He wanted to get the job shit out of the way so he could see Quistis. "And why in the fuck do _I_ have to be the monkey trainer?"

"Because you two don't really get along, which is perfect. You won't put up with his crap. If it were anyone else, I wouldn't trust them to get the job done."

Seifer raised an eyebrow at him. "Come again? Did I detect some praise in that statement?"

Squall ignored him. "I don't have time to do it, and even if I tried to take this on myself, he wouldn't take it seriously since he considers himself to be my best friend."

Seifer crossed his arms. "That sucks."

"Yeah. I wish I could help, but - "

"No, I mean it sucks that he's your best friend. I'd hang myself."

Squall ignored him again. "Besides, I need you to use some of your covert-ops experience to train him."

"Why?"

"You know why. He's not exactly the quiet type."

"One evil sorceress and five years later he's still not up to par with this shit?"

"He just needs practice. I'm afraid he'll blurt out someone's name during radio contact or something - "

Seifer snorted. "Chicken-wuss blowing a mission? No…"

"- which is another reason why I think it'd be better if you were in charge of this."

Seifer looked doubtful. "I dunno. He's not going to listen to me any more than he'd listen to you, Leonhart."

"Oh, he'll listen to you. He doesn't have a choice. Just use your charming social skills on him."

Seifer grinned. "He's going to hate you for this."

"I don't care. He'll get over it."

"How much time am I supposed to spend on him?"

Squall shrugged. "As much time as you need. As long as he's trained and it saves lives."

Seifer crossed his arms. "Yeah, okay. Can't argue with that. Tactics?"

"Use your own. Whatever works."

"You _do_ realize what you're doing, don't you?" Seifer gave him a mischievous grin.

Squall sighed. "Just don't mess around with him too much, Almasy. At least _try_ to train him properly. That's all I'm asking."

"Fine. I'll need a team, eventually…"

"Take whoever you want. I suggest taking one of our own with you if you have to drag a bunch of cadets out into the field."

"Why?"

"I think it'd be good to have someone else with experience. Someone else who would be able to calm Zell down if things get out of hand. Take Quistis, if you want…or Irvine or Selphie."

"Wait…if things get out of hand? I thought you trusted me."

"I don't trust you _that_ much. If you and Zell get into a fight, the rookies aren't going to know what to do, and you'll all be sitting ducks."

"I don't know if I should take that as an insult or a damn good idea."

Squall crossed his arms and didn't reply.

"Does Ifrit still live in his cave, or is he long gone?" Seifer narrowed his eyes, thinking out loud. "That'd be a nice place to practice."

"I'm not sure. We've gone in there before to check it out. There are plenty of monsters hiding out in there, but no sign of Ifrit. If he does still live there, he doesn't want to talk to us."

"Is it still hot as hell in there?"

"Yeah."

"Hrm. If Ifrit left, you'd think it'd cool off."

"I don't know," Squall shrugged. "You'd have to ask Quistis about that stuff. But I'm pretty sure that the GFs want to be left alone. If you do see him in there, don't aggravate him."

Seifer put a hand to his chest, looking shocked. "Who, me?"

"Have you heard of or seen any other GFs around the area?" Squall asked.

"Just the Brothers. They like to fuck around with people who try to explore the cave outside of Deling City. Our SeeDs had to go in there a few times to shut them up, but that's about it. Cerberus is creepin' around the Galbadian forest somewhere, but we don't mess with that thing." Seifer glanced at Squall. "What about Shiva?"

Squall looked at the ground. "She's up north, in Trabia, where it's cold."

Everyone knew that it was easy to bond with a GF if it was junctioned long enough. Seifer didn't know or care about the attachments, since he was the only one that never junctioned – to him it was like a sick addiction – but Squall had bonded closely with Shiva since she was his first GF.

_She popped Squall's junction cherry,_ Seifer thought with a suppressed grin.

"Anyway, Zell should be here within the next week if Cid sends that letter out," Squall continued. "Your job starts as soon as he sets foot in Garden."

"There's no guarantee this will work, you know," Seifer warned Squall. "I've never worked with victims of brain-damage."

"It shouldn't be hard," Squall rolled his eyes. "It won't be much different from what you do now, anyway."

"The hell does _that_ mean?"

"The only thing you do over at G-Garden is act as a drill sergeant."

Seifer glared at Squall, eyes narrowed. "Fuck _you!_ At least I don't sit behind a desk and make gay, lovesick, oogly faces with my girlfriend all day long."

It was Squall's turn to scowl. "I'm not behind a desk all the time."

Seifer snorted. "I rest my case."

Before Squall could respond, Seifer finished the conversation by walking away, heading towards the medical wing. "I'm goin' to visit Rai. Let me know when shit needs to get done around here, because I'll get bored."

It was Seifer's subtle way of saying he'll help out around Garden, even though he may not take orders. Squall sighed and shook his head. _Too many chiefs and not enough Indians. _"Yeah. Okay." With that, he ran a hand through his hair and walked back towards the dormitory wing.

**. . .**

Squall had noticed that since they left Cid's office, Rinoa had become unusually quiet. She was sitting in her room quietly, absent-mindedly thumbing through a magazine, when he'd come back from his talk with Seifer.

"Hey."

She looked up and gave him a quick purse of the lips. "Hey."

"…Are you all right?"

She nodded. "Mm-hmm."

Squall stepped forward. "Listen…Rinoa…I don't want you to get worked up or upset about what was discussed up there - "

"It's okay, Squall. I know. This is part of the job description. I'm going to have to deal with it whether I like it or not…I'm a sorceress. I've accepted that. It's fine."

Squall licked his lips and sighed. "Still…you know Seifer…can get a little…uh…"

Rinoa smiled softly. "I know."

"He doesn't really think before he speaks - "

"Seifer did what he had to do five years ago," Rinoa interrupted him gently. "He spent more than enough time with Ultimecia. If I were him, I would probably hate sorceresses, too…"

"He doesn't hate you, Rinoa."

"He doesn't trust me, either."

Squall sighed again. There was a long pause before he spoke.

"Rinoa…if you're uncomfortable with this whole SeeD thing…we can tell Cid - "

She shook her head. "No, that's not it. It's okay, Squall. Really. I like what I do. I can help."

Squall looked at the ground.

"I was just thinking…" she trailed off and looked down, placing the magazine on the coffee table.

Squall stepped over and slowly sat next to her. "What?"

"It was just something that Cid said," Rinoa replied. "…About…two of those SeeDs being orphans. I guess I didn't realize that so many of you lost your parents."

"You lost your mother," Squall pointed out. "Just like I did."

Rinoa smiled at him sadly. "Yes, but you never got to meet yours, did you? Didn't she die during childbirth?"

Squall nodded.

"My mother died in a car accident. I was five," Rinoa admitted. "She and my father were having problems…well…they fought off and on, but deep down I know they loved each other. I don't think it was her intention to leave. I think she just needed to get away for awhile…"

Squall blinked. "You never told me this."

"I didn't?"

"No."

"Oh. Well, I guess it's because it has to do with my father. I never liked talking about him. For the longest time I thought she'd left because of him." She shrugged and let out a derisive snort. "Actually…she _did_ leave because of him. They were fighting, and she went to take a drive to blow of some steam…but…she never…" Rinoa licked her lips and took a deep breath, as if mustering her strength, "…she never came back."

Squall looked down and swallowed.

"I blamed him for her death," she continued quietly, "even though it wasn't really his fault. I just…I hated him for it. I hated him for driving my mother away, and I hated him for killing her. I thought that for so long. That's why I left for Timber. That's why I was a member of the resistance. I wanted to be the opposite of everything my father was. I even refused to call him my father."

Squall nodded slowly, remembering the uncomfortable scene in Caraway's mansion over five years ago.

"And…you know…really…he loved her. He loved her so much…and when she died…it was like part of him died with her. Like…he just…shut down. I think he tried to talk to me once or twice about it, but he didn't really know what to say…" Rinoa sighed. "And I guess it didn't help that I wouldn't listen, anyway. I blamed him for her death, right in his face…and I never thought about it then, but now…" She looked at her hands as she fidgeted. "He was so hurt. He was so sad. Since then, he became distant. I'd never seen him so devoted to his work after that. He was _always_ working…always out of the house…and I hated him even more for that. But…really…"

She glanced up at Squall, her eyes full with tears. "I was just so _angry!_ I let it consume me, and I was so _selfish_…so selfish…just a stupid little girl who didn't understand real life…"

Squall reached over to hold her hand and her lip quivered. "I feel so awful, Squall, for acting like that. I never once thought about how he must've felt…and I suppose I never had to face something like that, until…until…I met you…then I thought about how I would feel if something happened to you…and…"

Squall nodded grimly. He thought about the exact same thing…every waking moment of his life since he met Rinoa.

"…it's not something I would wish on _anyone_," her face screwed up and tears started to run down her cheeks. "And my father must've relived that moment over and over again, for months and months…and then, his own daughter…abandoning him…"

"It's not your fault, Rinoa," Squall reminded her softly, giving her hand a squeeze.

"I could have done more," she warbled. "I could have…you know…" She sniffed. "…tried to talk to him, or at least said something at the Garden Ball, or even when Seifer was given that special Galbadian military gala when he took command…" Her lip quivered again and she bit her lip. "You know what's sad?" Rinoa wiped at her eyes and gave a half-laugh, half-sob. "_Seifer_ has spent more time with my father than I have. He probably knows him much better…" She sniffled. "How ironic is that?"

Squall set his jaw, silent. He didn't know what to say. He ran his thumb across her hand reassuringly.

She took a deep breath and wiped her tears away. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to fall apart like that. It's just that…I've been thinking about this for a while and I guess it finally got to me…"

"Quistis always told me that bottling my feelings up isn't healthy," he replied with a smirk.

Rinoa smiled and wiped at her eyes again. "Yeah…"

There was another long pause. Squall got up, grabbed a tissue box from the bathroom, and handed it to Rinoa. She took a tissue and blew her nose, then let out a deep sigh.

"I hurt him, Squall…I don't think I've ever realized how much I _hurt_ him…"

"He's your father. I'm sure he understands."

"I haven't spoken to him in almost six years."

"You'd be surprised how forgiving fathers can be," Squall rolled his eyes. _I didn't even know mine existed until five years ago._

"I should visit him," she sighed, sounding as if she were trying to half-heartedly convince herself.

Squall reached over and squeezed her hand. "He doesn't know about…you know…"

She shrugged. "I know. I don't think that really matters, though. I can go out into public, Squall. It's not like I use magic everywhere I go."

"I didn't mean about you being a sorceress. I meant about you being a SeeD. Wouldn't he disapprove?" _And he'd hate me even more,_ Squall lamented. _If he found out about us, it would totally justify everything he probably ever thought about me. Some punk kid soldier whisking his daughter off to an exciting life as a mercenary._

"I'm not sure," Rinoa looked thoughtful. "His whole life has been the military. I wouldn't be surprised if he would be proud to find out his daughter was a SeeD peacekeeper."

Squall opted not to say anything.

"Do you think…Cid would let me go?"

Squall didn't reply. Sure, _Cid_ would let her go. But…

"Whenever Seifer leaves for Galbadia," Rinoa thought out loud, "I could take a transport with him and - "

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Squall interrupted.

"Squall, will you quit worrying? I can handle Seifer."

Squall rolled his eyes. "I'm not talking about Seifer. I just…don't think leaving Balamb would be ideal right now…what with the current situation…"

Rinoa blinked. "The current situation? You mean the monsters? There were _two_ that popped up recently, not a hundred."

Squall sighed and didn't reply.

"I've left Balamb before," she pointed out.

"Yeah…but…"

"You don't want to see my father," Rinoa finally deducted.

Squall let out a heavy sigh. "It's not that…"

"He's just a man," Rinoa shrugged. "He's not going to bite your head off."

"He's a _general_," Squall corrected her, "and he has very important ties to Garden. We've worked really hard to achieve international peace through these joint collaborations and I don't want that to fall apart because of some grudge - "

"He's my _father_, Squall," she cut him off in a pained voice. "I'm not allowed to see my father because you're more afraid of breaking _diplomacy? Your _father is the president of Esthar! Don't tell me this is about a conflict of interest!"

When she said it like that, he couldn't really conjure up a decent response.

"All right. If that's what you really want, then we'll go see him."

She smiled up at him, hopeful. "You promise?"

"I promise. It might not be as soon as you'd like, but, schedule willing, maybe within the next few months or so - "

Rinoa cut him off by lunging forward and embracing him in a tight hug. "Thank you, Squall," she whispered. "Thank you."

He sighed and hugged her back.

_**. . .**_

Fujin and Raijin were exactly where Seifer thought they'd be; in the medical ward. Raijin was lying on his stomach on a medical cot, covered with a thin sheet, but Seifer could see the bulky white banages that covered one butt cheek. He had a drink in his hand, slurping at the straw, intently watching television that was set in the far corner of the room. Fujin was sitting in a chair, legs crossed, nonchalantly flipping through a Weapons Monthly. She looked up and smiled once Seifer entered the room.

"FINALLY."

Raijin looked up, following Fujin's gaze, and beamed. "Yo, Seifer!"

"What's up, you fuckin' invalid?" Seifer was grinning ear to ear, giving Fujin an acknowledging nudge with his elbow. "Heard you got shot in the ass cheek!"

"Yeah, never saw it comin', ya know?" Raijin grinned back.

"How could you? You got shot in the _rear_."

Fujin snickered.

Raijin shook his head, smiling. "Kinda funny when I look back on it now, ya know?"

"_That's_ an understatement," Seifer agreed. "I laughed my _butt_ off – pun intended – in Cid's office for a good twenty minutes before I came down here."

His joke garnered a chuckle from Fujin, who nodded and added, "IDIOT."

Seifer nudged her again. "I know, right? What an _ass_."

"CHEEKY."

"Look at this guy, sitting around like a fuckin' _bum_."

"Aw, c'mon, Seifer. It was an accident, ya know? Zell's already apologized to me a gazillion times."

"GUILTY."

"He never looked so miserable, ya know? He brought me all sorts of homemade food his mom made, ya know? I had this kickass Balamb trout the other day, and today he brought me some of her brownies. Pretty nice guy, ya know?"

Seifer perked. "Brownies?"

Fujin pointed towards the small table sitting between Raijin's cot and an empty one. There was a large white plate with fudgy brownies stacked on it, and the pile had looked as if it was already starting to dwindle.

"Oh, fuck yeah," Seifer rubbed his hands together and walked over to the plate. "Come to papa."

"Hey!" Raijin protested, but it was too late. "Those are mine, ya know?"

"The posse shares, Rai. C'mon. These are homemade, even. I haven't had a decent homecooked meal since - " Seifer paused for a moment. "Hrm. I haven't had a decent homecooked meal. Period."

"MATRON," Fujin reminded him.

"That doesn't count," Seifer took a gigantic bite of the brownie, adding in a muffled voice, cheeks full, "vat was reewy wong ago. Don' rememer."

"Ya mean Quistis hasn't cooked for you?" Raijin asked.

Seifer swallowed, raising the brownie to his mouth for another bite. "Cook with what? She doesn't have a kitchen in her room, dumb _ass_."

"How's she gonna learn how to make dinner for you and the kids, then, ya know?"

Seifer coughed during mid-bite and swirled around, giving Raijin a death glare. "The fuck?"

Fujin put a hand to her mouth, suppressing a laugh.

"Aw, c'mon, Seifer, when are you gonna marry her, ya know?"

"No. Stop right there. End the fucking conversation or I'll finish what Zell started," Seifer pointed at Raijin menacingly. "What did I tell you about that shit?"

"Just sayin', man."

"SCARED."

"Got that right, Fuj," Raijin grinned, glad to have turned the tables. "Talk about cold feet, ya know?"

"Hey! Who's side are you on, Fujin?" Seifer turned on her.

"PROPOSE," she instructed, a mischievous grin on her face.

"Yeah, you're way overdue, ya know?" Raijin added.

Seifer pointed at Fujin. "Shut the fuck up or I'll tell Raijin about how the ol' pretty-boy second-in-command at G-Garden has the hots for you – OH. Whoops."

Raijin's mouth opened into a wide O as Fujin immediately turned a shade of pink and snarled, "OUTRAGE!"

"Ooo, shit Fuj, Zavier likes you!" Raijin squealed, shifting in his cot excitedly.

"QUIET."

"Why didn't you tell me, ya know?"

"LIES."

"Look into my _eye_," Seifer stared to sing, clutching his hands to his chest in mock lovesickness. "You will see - "

"Whaaaaaaat you meeeaaan toooo meeeee," Raijin joined in loudly.

"ENOUGH."

"Search your heart - "

"Search your soul - "

"IDIOTS!"

The two boys were now singing the song simultaneously, and to Fujin's dismay, horrendously loud and off-key.

"And when you find me there you will seaaaarrrrch no moooooore!"

"Don't tell! Me! It's not worth trying for – "

"Tryin' for!"

"You can't tell! Me! It's not worth dyin' for - "

"Dyin' for!"

"SHUT UP."

"You know it's true - "

Fujin promptly interrupted Seifer by giving him a swift kick to the shin.

"OW! Fuck, Fuj! That shit hurts!" Seifer grimaced, but he was chuckling.

"She doesn't play around, ya know?" Raijin was grinning from ear to ear. "It's about time she kicked you. She always kicks me."

Fujin promply marched over and smacked Raijin on his damaged rear.

Raijin let out a loud howl. "OWWWWWW, Fuj! What'd ya do that for, ya know! Aiiyeeee, that _HURT_, ya know?"

Seifer couldn't talk. He was laughing too hard.

"Not fair, Fuj, _NOT_ fair!" Raijin squirmed and jammed his forehead into a pillow, wincing in pain. "Faaaaaaaaaack, man! Now it's gonna swell back up, ya know?"

"Fujin," Seifer managed to find his voice in between bouts of laughter, "that was probably…the funniest…fuckin' thing…I think I've ever seen you do…"

"_Not_ funny, ya know?" Raijin groaned. "Aaahww. Definitely _not_ funny."

"Oh, Hyne," Seifer breathed. "It's good to be home with you two."

"I'm not gonna make fun of you anymore, Fuj," Raijin shifted in the cot and winced again. "Damn. It ain't any fun anymore, ya know?"

"GOOD."

"Seriously, though, how'd you find that out?" Raijin asked Seifer, still wincing. "I thought you didn't like Zavier."

Fujin crossed her arms and emitted a frustrated growl, clearly wanting to change the subject.

"I don't," Seifer replied, ignoring Fujin. "He's got a giant stick shoved so far up his ass that Martine uses to puppeteer him around," he rolled his eyes. "Sticks to the rules to a T and always acts like a fuckin' dick. Gotta hand it to him, though…damn good on the battlefield. Smart dude." He paused for a minute and rubbed his chin. "Come to think of it, if Squall and Xu had a lovechild, that would be Zavier. Ugh. Fuckin' gross."

"You think so? He kinda looks like the sniper – Irvine – ya know?"

Seifer shrugged. "Meh. Not really. I mean, sorta, but all those Galbadians are fairy-ass pretty boys."

"So you didn't answer my question, ya know?"

"So anyway, we're goin' over this battle plan for the new shitstains entering Garden and he just asks me about Fujin out of nowhere. Blindsided me. I didn't know what to say for a minute."

"Really! What'd he ask, ya know?"

"RIDICULOUS," Fujin waved a hand, trying to hide her embarrassment, downplaying the whole thing.

"Wondered if she was still at B-Garden…wondered if she was ever going to come to G-Garden to help me out with stuff. Guess he figured out we were pretty close. Didn't really ask me outright about anything…just sort of…dropped her name and that was it."

"Daaaaaammm, Fuuuuj!" Raijin crooned with a gigantic smile on his face. "You know how to rope 'em in, don't ya? How the hell did you get Zavier's attention, ya know?"

"STUPID," Fujin shot back.

"Don't worry, Fuj, I held him off for you," Seifer crossed his arms.

Fujin and Raijin both glanced at Seifer, but their expressions were completely opposite one another. Raijin looked surprised and excited, while Fujin gave him a menacing glare.

"Yeah? What'd ya say, ya know?"

"I told him that she's a lesbian. I said that she and Xu were together."

Fujin looked slightly taken aback. "LIAR."

"Seifer, did you really say that, ya know?"

"Why does it matter? You don't like him, do you Fuj?" Seifer nudged her with his elbow.

She stepped back and scowled. "IRRELEVANT."

"For real, Seifer, you didn't say that, did ya?"

"Of course I said it! It sent Zavier running the other way! Good riddance!" Seifer crossed his arms, looking victorious. "You're welcome, Fuj."

"IDIOT!" Fujin's face grew pink.

"Seifer, dude, that ain't right," Raijin shook his head. "You should've let Fujin take care of it, ya know? Especially if it ain't true, ya know? Let her decide for herself, ya know?"

"EXACTLY."

Seifer feigned surprise. "Really?"

"OBVIOUSLY," Fujin fumed, her fists balling at her sides.

Seifer snickered and pointed at her. "Look at your face, Fuj! You're so pissed! You _like_ him, don't you?"

Fujin scowled. "NO."

"I didn't say that shit, don't worry," Seifer chuckled. "I just shrugged and told him I didn't know. I ain't gonna play matchmaker. Yech."

Fujin crossed her arms and looked away, hiding her embarrassment.

Seifer narrowed his eyes, looking thoughtful. "Although, the part about Xu is probably true. Total carpet muncher."

"I don't get it, ya know?" Rajin looked at Fujin, then at Seifer. "Since when did Zavier become interested, ya know? He's barely here, ya know? And Fujin hardly ever goes to G-Garden."

"DROP IT."

"Apparently, he bumped into her five years ago when you guys were delivering Martine that message from the Shumi," Seifer shrugged. "Must've left an impression, Fuj. Did you show him your tits or something?"

Fujin smacked his arm. "RAGE!"

"Then there was that Garden party…you know, the one Loire hosted for all three Gardens…"

"Ohhh, yeah," Raijin nodded. "I think that was the first time I've ever seen you in a dress, Fuj. You looked _good_, ya know?"

Fujin sighed audibly. "ENOUGH."

"And then I guess she led a team a couple months ago over in the Galbadian region and rendezvoused with Zavier's unit," Seifer added. "Guess some crazy call-of-the-wild shit went down in the field, eh, Fuj?"

Fujin shook her head and put a hand to the bridge of her nose. "IMMATURE."

"Oh, yeah, I remember that mission," Raijin nodded slowly. "I was out in Esthar with Squall and Quistis, ya know? I forgot that Fujin went to Galbadia."

Seifer glanced at Raijin. "What were you guys doing in Esthar?"

"Eh, weapons stuff. Plus, we had to stop by FH and make sure the trade route was operating smoothly, ya know? Ever since those roads opened, monsters have been migrating out of Esthar to prey on the traders, ya know?"

Seifer nodded. "Douchebag Dobe give you any trouble?"

"Nah. He stayed away from us for the most part, ya know?"

"Good. I can't believe that asshole is still the mayor," Seifer shook his head.

"There's nobody to run against in that town, ya know?"

"Yeah. Good point."

"So what's up, Seifer? How come you're back in Balamb, ya know?"

Seifer explained to them about his recent mission, the strange hybrid monster, and the malfunctioning equipment, which led to the subject of his new assignment with Zell.

Fujin snickered. "INTERESTING."

"Yeah," Seifer snorted. "No shit. If I take that joker out in the field, I might take you with me, Fujin. I can't babysit Zell and the rookies all at once."

"FINE."

"Hey! Whadda 'bout me, ya know?"

"No way. You and your busted ass can stay here."

"Aw, c'mon, Seifer. That ain't fair, ya know? It wasn't anyone's fault. A misfire was bound to happen, ya know?"

Fujin snorted and rolled her good eye. "UNDOUBTEDLY."

"Hey – what? You think I would screw up a live fire exercise, Fuj?"

"It's a miracle you haven't yet," Seifer crossed his arms.

"AGREED."

"That's harsh, ya know?"

"How did you get shot in the first place, Rai? The hell were you guys _doing_, anyway?" Seifer raised an eyebrow. "Shooting at blobras like a bunch of morons? Did the bullets bounce off?"

"Nah, well, I think Zell's mostly in trouble for how he commanded his squad, ya know?"

"Why? What'd he do?"

"MISCOMMUNICATION."

"He ordered my unit out front, ya know? But then once we were in position, he changed his mind about the mode of attack, ya know? Confused some cadets – some new ones were with us, ya know – and before you know it, our formation was all jacked up. Students were caught in the line of fire and all sorts of hell was breakin' loose, ya know? Zell realized his screw-up and ordered us back but when we were getting out of there, a monster swooped in on us from behind. So Zell - "

"He said _behind_," Seifer grinned and nudged Fujin with his elbow again.

"IRONIC."

"Hey! I'm tellin' a story, ya know?"

"So Zell shot you instead of the monster?"

"That's when his weapon misfired, ya know? Went off before he could take aim. Was pretty pissed off, ya know? But then I was limpin' and bleedin' pretty bad, and everyone realized what happened. Luckily the ammo wasn't infused with any magic."

Seifer crossed his arms. "Hrm." Cid and Squall were right. It wasn't the accident, per se, that landed Zell in the hot seat. It was his shitty orders that put his squad in danger in the first place. Normally, the SeeDs practiced with rubber bullets, but this must have been Zell's first command over others during a live-fire practice.

_He must've been nervous as hell. That probably didn't help things._

Raijin had been a SeeD for over five years, and he had slight seniority over Zell, but Zell outranked him in terms of skill and his experiences with the war. In this case, none of that seemed to matter, since Zell apparently wasn't good at coordinating attacks and giving commands to large squads.

Seifer glanced at him. "Why didn't you take charge?"

"Headmaster Cid told me to help out, ya know? But it was Zell's show, he needed the practice, and I was only s'posed to step in if things got really bad, ya know? But then…when things _did_ get bad, I was the one who got shot and couldn't do much from then on, ya know?"

Seifer glanced at Fujin. "Were you there?"

Fujin shook her head. "NO."

"Fujin got stuck with a bunch of new cadets that day, didn't ya, Fuj?" Raijin grinned.

Fujin rolled her good eye. "JUVENILES."

Seifer sighed. "Well, apart from the misfire, how did Zell do before that?"

Raijin made a face. "He kinda stinks, ya know? He didn't really know what to do, ya know?"

Zell's experience in combat was basically doing whatever Squall told him to do. Seifer could remember Squall confiding in him that he didn't let Zell do much on his own during the war; he had entrusted most of the smaller missions to Quistis. And Quistis had told him that Squall usually kept Zell on a team where he could keep an eye on him at all times, unless it was for recon.

Seifer was beginning to wonder if this was a good idea. Training Zell was going to be harder than he originally thought.

"Hrm. Guess I've got my work cut out for me."

"Heh. Welcome back, ya know? No rest for the weary, ya know?"

"Yeah. Speakin' of, I'm gonna go catch up with Quistis. Fuj, you don't have any missions lined up for the next month, do you?"

Fujin shook her head. "FREE."

"Good. I'll contact you about this bullshit training thing. I'll make sure you don't get stuck with the juvies this time around."

"BETTER."

Seifer gave them a little salute and headed out of the room. "I'll catch you dicks later."

**_. . ._**

After talking with Fujin and Raijin, Seifer made his way back to Quistis's dormitory. He opened the door with his card key and locked it once he stepped inside.

"Hey, Quistis? Quis."

Quistis emerged from her room, pinning her hair up. "Yeah?"

He grabbed her and kissed her, emitting a low groan. "Hey."

She smiled. "Hi."

"Let's get naked."

She chuckled and shook her head. "I can't, Seifer. I have class in five minutes."

"Cancel it."

"I'm not going to cancel class for sex."

His mouth dropped open. "That is the _saddest_ damn thing I've ever heard in my life."

She rolled her eyes and turned away, putting a few books and papers in a satchel.

"C'mon, Quis," he slinked up behind her and put his hands on her hips, lowering his face towards her neck. "I haven't seen you in two months."

"Well, nobody _forced_ you to leave for two months," she reminded him.

_Hyne. Leave it to a fucking woman to bring up the long-lost past._ He let out an annoyed sigh. "Yeah, well, _someone_ gave me a damn good reason to be gone that long," he retorted, his expression darkening.

Quistis straightened and emitted a short huff. "I have class, Seifer. This can wait."

"No, it can't."

She turned and stared at him, narrowing her eyes. "Excuse me? It _can't?_ Uh, yes it _can_. My class only takes an hour. Surely you can wait for one more hour. You didn't seem to mind hanging out in Galbadia for two months."

"Oh, don't start with this shit," he rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, it's my fault, blah blah blah, fucking asshole, blah blah blah, one-sided bullcrap, nothing's ever your fault - "

"I never said that, Seifer - "

He waved a hand. "Just go teach class, Quis. Have fun. When you come back, though, it might be a little harder to turn me on. I don't wanna get frostbite."

She curled her lips and crossed her arms. "Hyne, Seifer, why is _everything_ with you about sex? _I have a job to do!_ You know the motions! How is it that you're _not_ adjusted to my schedule yet? Why are you even _with_ me? You always get so mad if I don't plop right down on the bed and spread my legs - "

Seifer threw up his hands. "_Fuck!_ It's not just the fucking sex, Quistis! Hyne! It's about spending time with you!"

There was a pause. She wavered.

"_Naked_," he added with a malicious grin.

She narrowed her eyes. "This is _ridiculous_, and now I'm going to be _late_," she snarled, snatching up her satchel. "Wonderful. Just _fantastic_. License revoked _again_ because I'm dating a selfish, womanizing _prick_."

"Oh, here we go, putting the fuckin' gloves on," Seifer snapped back, following her out the door. "Blame it all on me, yeah. Good. Never mind that you act like an uptight, rigid _bitch_."

She set her jaw and picked up the pace. "Fine. I'm a bitch, huh? Then what are you still doing here?"

"I didn't _call_ you a bitch, I said you _acted_ like one."

Quistis abruptly stopped and spun on her heels to glare up at him. "_What's the difference?"_

"There's a _big_ difference. And I'd like to remind you that you call me names all the time, but I always let that shit slide."

She let out an angry huff and turned around again. "I'm not going to get into it with you right now, Seifer. I have class. _Please_ leave me alone."

His expression grew darker. When she used her p's and q's during an argument, it only pissed him off even more. He grit his teeth and picked up the pace, following her closely. Staring at her backside wasn't helping, especially when she was walking like that – angry and purposefully – and as her hips swayed back and forth, he grew even more frustrated.

"I'm not done with you yet."

"I don't _care_," she snapped. "I'm done with _you!_ This can wait until - "

Before anyone could see them, and before she reached the turn of the hallway that led to her classroom further down, he grabbed her wrist and yanked her into an empty lecture room, slamming the door, pressing her against it, and shoving himself against her, forcing a kiss on her lips while locking the door simultaneously.

She angrily whipped her head to the side. "Seifer - "

He silenced her with another kiss. One hand cupped her cheek while the other fumbled with the hem of her skirt.

She wriggled even more. "You can't just - "

His tongue quieted her once again and he clenched the fabric of her skirt, lifting it higher until he could reach down between her legs.

She came up for air one last time and tried to push him away, her resolve significantly weaker. Her hand clutched the fabric of his shirt against his tightened chest and she applied force, but apparently it wasn't enough.

"Seifer - "

He grabbed her wrist and held it against the door, dipping his head to nibble and suck at her neck. The other hand had found what it was searching for and he started to tease and caress her. Her lithe body started to relax and he knew that she had given in, as he ventured lower past the neckline. Voices on the other side of the door made her briefly remember her senses and she let out a gasp of protest, but he shifted her over to the wall and pinned her there, hiking her skirt up even higher and pressing into her, releasing her wrists and using his hands to massage her breasts as he kissed her forcefully. She sighed and lowered her hands, skillfully unbuckling his belt and slowly loosening the waistline, unzipping his pants and taking him into her hands –

He groaned and dipped his head, spreading her blouse wider, but it was only partially unbuttoned and would only go so far. He could rip it, but she would bitch at him for that (again) and he wasn't in the mood for any more nagging. He pressed his face into her chest and licked and nibbled and used a hand to tug at her bra.

Damn. Obstacle.

Impatiently, desperately, he grabbed her wrists and brought her arms up over her head, moving them out of the way, so he could reach down and –

Damn. Another obstacle.

He yanked her panties down as far as he could take them, then kissed her again forcefully, just in case she would protest. She let out a sigh instead when two of his fingers went inside her – Hyne, she was so ready – and his lips trailed back down –

Bras that clip in the front. They need to invent those. Aren't they already available? Quistis needs to buy one -

She whimpered.

Fuck it.

He yanked the shoulder straps down as far as they would go – stopping at her elbows – and pulled the cups down, greedily sucking at a freed breast.

He pressed against her harder and she let out a sigh, hiking up a knee and wrapping her leg around his hip as an invitation. Within seconds he wrapped his arms around her, lifted her up, and moved into her. She bit her lip and furrowed her brows – an expression he fucking loved – and he went deeper, burying his face into her cleavage, licking anything he could get his tongue on. She arched her back, allowing him to sample more, and moaned, bucking her hips. He pumped even harder as he grabbed at a bra cup again, yanking it further down, finally exposing a nipple. Sucking and pinching at it, Quistis whimpered again and grabbed his hair with one hand, the other splayed against the wall as he moved her up and down it, as if she were making a feeble attempt to hold herself up.

He held her with one arm, but it was getting tired, and he was using the other hand to squeeze and caress a breast. Only one was exposed, though, and he wanted to grab – he needed to readjust – if he could just reach –

Multitasking like this was a bitch.

He swiveled and pitched her forward, spreading her across the bare instructor's desk, and used both hands to yank the white shirt down, past her elbows, allowing the bra to slide further down as well. Gripping both breasts in each hand, he kissed her hard, and she kissed back, moving with his hard rhythm. It was almost impossible not to make any noise, and as they reached ecstasy, Seifer's groans and Quistis's whimpers grew louder, not caring whether anyone heard.

For some reason, the sex in the shower wasn't nearly as rough and desperate as it was now. They made love in the shower. They had savored their time together, caressed each other, and were slow and gentile with another. Now, it was power-struggling, frustrated, angry sex. It involved some wrestling, some biting, some scratching, some pinching, some shoving, some ripping, and not a whole lot of compromise. Besides, there was just something about her old, empty, dark classroom that made it all so exhilarating. He'd pined over her from the back of the room for years, about how he'd finally get her to bend over that desk and show her the man he really was, how she'd moan and whimper for him and beg for him not to stop and cry out his name, how they'd conquer every _inch_ of that classroom, and now that they were really there, he wouldn't let a moment of it go to waste.

They must've had sex in that classroom so many times he lost count. He made sure that only he had the key.

When they were finished, Seifer was bent over Quistis, breathing hard on an exposed breast, resting his forehead on her chest. Her legs were wrapped around him, and she still gripped the wood of the desk tightly, her eyes closed.

It was just the two of them, in that heady moment, breathing hard and basking in the hard love they'd just made –

_Knock, knock, knock._

The light knock on the door made them freeze. Quistis glanced at the door in panic, and Seifer lifted his head, narrowed his eyes, and curled a lip.

"How could anyone know we're in here?"

They remained silent and frozen in place, not wanting any movement to make any sounds and attract attention, but the subtle knock came again.

_Knock, knock, knock._

"Oh, Hyne. Seifer, if I'm caught - "

"You're not gonna get caught," he replied in a low voice, pulling up his pants and buckling them quickly. "It's probably a lost student. Wait here."

Seifer slowly walked over to the door as Quistis rushed to adjust her uniform. He glanced over to make sure she was out of sight, then opened the door a slight crack. As soon as he saw who it was, he let out a sigh and rolled his eyes, opening the door wider to let the person in.

"Hyne. What do _you_ want?"

Selphie stepped through and Seifer closed the door behind her. She stuck her tongue out at him. "Nice to see you too, behemoth face."

Quistis stepped forward. "Selphie, what - "

"Hey, Quisty. Don't worry, I cancelled your class fifteen minutes ago."

Quistis blinked at her in surprise. "You did?"

Selphie stared at her as though the answer was obvious. "Well, yeah. Why would you teach right now? Seifer just came back," she motioned to the classroom, "_obviously_."

Quistis grew pink. "Oh. Right." She cast Seifer a quizzical glance. "You didn't have anything to do with this, did you?"

"No, but it was a damn good idea." He grinned at Selphie. "Good thinkin', wee one."

Selphie threw him a fake, sloppy salute. "You betcha, sarge."

Quistis narrowed her eyes. "What did you tell all of the students?"

Selphie shrugged. "Told 'em that you were super duper wiped out from the mission – might have even caught something from that nasty wormy mucus – and that class was cancelled until further notice."

Quistis crossed her arms and sighed, but it was much too late to argue.

Seifer put a hand on his hip. "I thought _you'd_ be hanging around the rhinestone cowboy. The hell'd you go out of your way to do that for, anyway?"

Selphie shrugged nonchalantly. "Quisty's been _way_ too uptight lately. Ever since you left, we couldn't cut the tension around here with a frickin' _chainsaw_. I think we _all_ need a break from her grouchy attitude. Pssh. It's about time." She glanced at Quistis, completely ignored her irritated glare, and added, "You need to ride the ol' baloney pony more often, Quisty."

Seifer let out a bark of laughter, but Quistis glared at Selphie, her face turning beet red.

"Thank you for that _very_ professional assessment, Selphie."

Selphie beamed. "You're welcome!"

"C'mon," Seifer gave Quistis's rear a squeeze and motioned towards the dormitory wing. "You heard the captain. Less work, more play."

Quistis rolled her eyes. "We'll see you around, Selphie. Go be with Irvine…although, you hang around him too much. I think you're picking up his dirty habits."

Selphie shrugged and grinned. "You say that like it's a _bad_ thing."

Seifer and Quistis walked back to her dormitory room slowly and contentedly, his palm resting on the small of her back. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and hid a smirk as he admired how some of her hair had fallen loose during their little classroom charade. Selphie was right; he was home, he was with her, and he wouldn't let the day go to waste. They'd spend the rest of it together, most likely in bed, if there weren't any other pressing SeeD issues at hand.

Although he wouldn't admit it, Raijin was right. Seifer was completely smitten. Aside from co-commanding Garden and coordinating diplomatic relations with Galbadia, Quistis was his life. As far as he was concerned, she was the reason he was alive in the first place. He never did believe Squall when he had said that his only purpose was because of Rinoa, and he had never really expected to give a shit, but he was finally beginning to understand the gravity of Squall's words.

Quistis was his, and he'd fucking kill anyone or anything that laid a hand on her. He loved her, and he wasn't about to let her go. The war taught him that. He didn't take her for granted anymore, like over the many years he used to.

Did that mean that he made googly faces with her and kissed her in the hallways and told her that he loved her every single day?

Fuuuuuck no.

If anything, they fought hard and they fought often. Seifer's carefree, callous attitude never really helped; combined with Quistis's uptight, organizational rigidness towards everything she did, it served for wonderful argument fodder. The two were remarkably incompatible yet they were crazy about each other. They couldn't spend every single waking moment together without arguing about something – Seifer would make jabs about how type-A obsessive compulsive she was about every little thing, and she'd retort something back about how careless and irresponsible he was. The arguments were always about something small and stupid and ironically enough, something was really wrong if they weren't fighting. It was simply in Seifer's nature to poke and prod and push it to the limit, and it was in Quistis's nature to nag and boss and scold him about _something_.

Nevertheless, the make-up sex was fantastic.

Seifer had considered his future with Quistis many times. Now that they were older, he'd wondered how long they would be in Garden. With Cid close to retirement, he visited Centra more often and they knew that it would only be a matter of time before he left Garden for good, to live quietly with Edea at the old orphanage on the beach. Seifer had started thinking about how his life would be if he and Quistis eventually did the same thing.

…For some reason, it just didn't seem realistic.

He'd been to the Galbadian Jewelry shop dozens of times to look at the overpriced, sparkly merchandise. Galbadia boasted the prettiest diamonds on the continent – besides Esthar – which were excavated from the Shumi mines and dazzled the customers with the various styles and radiant colors. Every single time he'd glance over at the engagement ring section, however, he'd get pissed off at the over-zealous sales personnel, grumble "just looking," and hustle out.

It just…didn't seem realistic.

_Proposing to Quistis? Marrying her? Then what?_

_Buy a house?_

_Settle down and have kids?_

_Get a dog? No. Fuck dogs. A cat? Nnnnrrgh._

_Put Hyperion away? Leave Garden? Sit behind a desk? No…more…missions? Training? Fighting?_

He couldn't. And he knew she couldn't, either.

He loved her, but…marrying her? It was what everyone else did when they didn't know what else to do with each other. They settled down with their boring-ass lives and read the newspaper at night before waking up to the same routine the next day. Seifer knew he wouldn't do that. Garden was his home. Why would he ever leave it? And why did he have to get married, anyway? To legally bind her to him? So what? She already knew that he didn't want anyone else…didn't she?

Besides, getting married would only make things complicated. He was a commander and she was a head instructor. Sure, it's been done before, but…

Seifer shook his head.

_People like Squall and Rinoa get married. Guh. Not me. Not Quistis._

Anything Squall did, Seifer had to do the opposite.

_Fuck getting married. SeeDs don't have time to get married. SeeDs have a job to do._

But he had entertained the thought of living together…cooking together…going to the beach together…they weren't going to be young forever, and it would only be a matter of time before their hard labor and their lives as soldiers would take a toll on their bodies…

It would be nice to call her his wife. He wasn't sure about rugrats – to him, having a child was like taking care of an extremely expensive pet – but he simply couldn't imagine his life without her.

…_No. No marriage._

He _hated_ preparing for the future. Preparing for the future meant…

…It meant…

Hoping. Planning.

_Dreaming._

But…really…the future…

The future always reminded him of _her._

He gritted his teeth. It wasn't marriage, per se, that scared him. It was his SeeD perspective on marriage. A legal binding contract to someone else meant that they had ties to each other – ties that could be accessed. Ties that could be exploited. Ties that could be destroyed. By an enemy.

_She…might come back. She might come back, and if I have a wife…if I have a family…_

…_I don't know what I'd do if I lost them._

_. . ._

"I really appreciate you doing this for me," Ellone walked quickly next to a young scientist, possibly an apprentice, who was much taller than she was. His gait was almost twice as much as hers, so she tried to keep up. He was also incredibly skinny and had thin-rimmed glasses perched on top of his nose. If she had to guess, she was a little older than he, which made her wonder just how old she'd gotten in the past few years. The professional staff around here seemed to be getting younger and younger. Even the Garden SeeDs were younger than she was. Funny, how age snuck up on people so suddenly. Her whole life, she'd been a little girl protected by older men and soldiers, and now it seemed to be the other way around. She was growing older but she was being protected by teenagers. Funny, and a little sad.

"It's no problem at all," he replied with a smile. "It's not every day we allow observers into the laboratory. However, Dr. Viedt says that you're a special guest of ours and you'll always be welcome. If there are any questions you have for me, I'll be happy to answer them."

At least he had manners. Most of the scientists around here were very anti-social.

He had shown her the wet lab, which was mostly full of scientists studying the magic chemistry and biology of the plant life that might give more insight into the draw points that sporadically bled from the ground, and he had pointed to a large door that led to off-limits research and development (top secret), but Ellone knew very well that it was for firearms and weaponry. He showed her the room full of scientists doing calculations and statistics for the moon's orbit (apparently researching the Lunar Cry), and another adjoining room full of machinery and computers.

"Can you explain why you're doing this again?" Ellone asked. "Dr. Viedt mentioned that it was important to study how draw points work, but I'm not quite sure I understand the significance of it…"

"Of course. Are you familiar with draw?"

Ellone pursed her lips and shook her head. "I'm afraid not. I never learned how."

"It's very easy. Once someone's trained, it's hard to forget. Almost like riding a bike."

Ellone decided not to mention that she'd never learned how to ride a bike, either.

"Most civilians don't draw, anyway," the scientist continued. "Usually it's for soldiers and SeeD operatives."

"Do you know how?" she asked him.

He shook his head. "I've never performed a draw, just studied it. However, the actual process is quite simple. Those more skilled at it, like the military, can draw from anything – people, animals, or the ground, depending on what's available and if there's a draw point. The natural draw points in the earth can run dry, though, if drawn too much – almost like tapping a natural resource for an extended amount of time. Nature must replenish that which was lost, but it can take a while. Our studies involve what happens during the draw process, and we're also trying to find a way to make draw more feasible, as well as alternative junctioning in case draw isn't an option, for instance, in emergencies or when draw points aren't available."

Ellone shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't understand."

"Do you know where all the natural magic comes from, in the draw points?"

She shook her head again. "No."

"Neither do we. That's one thing we're trying to figure out."

"Oh."

"We noticed that when people junction guardian forces, it's also easier to draw. We don't know why this happens, either. We want to know if there's something about the GF that makes 'magical communication,' so to speak, easier."

Ellone slowly nodded. "Hm."

"Now, since the military and Gardens want to abandon the dependency on guardian forces, we want to try to find alternative ways to increase strength, and magic, and so forth…give the soldiers that boost they used to get when junctioned to GF's…but without damaging them physically, or causing any side effects, like the GF's used to have…"

"I see. So how do you find these alternatives?"

The scientist led her to a large, thick, metal door with a keypad attached to the knob.

"This is where we house the monsters. We can only keep a few in here at a time, but for the most part, this is where the hybrid research begins."

He led her into a large room that was lined with desks and computers. It was almost arranged like a lecture hall or classroom, except instead of a stage or chalkboard at the front of the room, there were two separate holding pens, completely separated by thick glass. Ellone suddenly felt as if she were in a zoo observatory. The pen on the right was empty and the lights were off, but there was activity going on somewhere behind the pen on the left. Scientists were organizing their papers and typing away at computers.

"We'll stand here in the back for a little bit," the scientist said in a hushed voice to Ellone. "I think they're getting ready to catalog another catch."

"What does that mean?"

The scientist pointed to the pens. "A new monster is brought into that room, or that room, and then they're scanned into the computer, weighed, microchipped, and an anti-magic collar is secured to them before moving them along."

"They look like examination rooms," Ellone stood up on tip-toe to get a better look. There wasn't anything in the room. Bland paint had been scratched up by whatever was in there before, but that was about it. A small, square, black device was nestled in the ceiling.

"The camera and scanning device is there," the scientist pointed to it, "and the floor is an actual scale. That's how the animal is weighed – oh! It looks like they're bringing one in now."

A large trap door lifted up on the side of the pen from a different room and a large Mesmerize stepped through, having nowhere else to go. Two men, armed with guns and carrying large electric prods, followed close behind and were trying to wrangle the Mesmerize into submission so they could put a large, black collar around its neck. The terrified equine was not obliging, however, and rose back on its hind legs in order to attempt to trample them with the front. It whinnied and screamed, but its true mode of defense – the long, curling horn sharpened into a blade – had already been broken off, leaving just a stub of bone. It pranced and whinnied and reared, so once the men advanced, they'd just have to back away again and try a different method.

"Oh, the poor thing," Ellone hugged herself. "It sounds so frightened."

"We try to use methods as humane as possible," the scientist replied, "but you have to remember that they _are_ monsters. If provoked, they'll go on a killing spree."

"Aren't you worried that the glass will break?"

"It's very thick and has been engineered for this type of thing," the scientist pointed out. "It's virtually indestructible. Magic-proof and bullet-proof - "

The Mesmerize bucked and its back legs slammed against the barrier, making Ellone startle and jump back.

" - so this type of thing won't shatter it," the scientist finished with a grin.

"Goodness," Ellone put a hand on her chest. "How many creatures do you bring in a day?"

"It depends. We've been pretty busy, lately, since the hybrids bred from the last Lunar Cry are starting to mature, but on average, I'd say the military brings in at least five to seven a day."

"And you research their traits?"

"Yes, that's correct. Physical and magical traits. Most of them have healing power, and so many of them have special features that can be converted into medicine or specific vitality potions - "

"Or weapons," Ellone interjected.

"Er…yes, or for the development of weapons," he nodded.

Ellone glanced back towards the holding room and watched as the two men began to shock the Mesmerize with their prods in an attempt to get it to submit into a corner. It screamed and whinnied more, rearing back in fear. She couldn't help but feel sorry for it. "Oh, that's awful!"

"We do what's necessary. The shocks never have a long-term effect."

The Mesmerize suddenly stopped whinnying and stood still. It snorted, then turned its head to stare right at Ellone. It's yellow eyes blinked. The two men braced themselves for another struggle, but it never came. They hesitated and glanced at each other, puzzled at its sudden calm behavior.

Ellone swallowed and took an involuntary step back.

A few scientists stood up.

"What is it doing?"

"It's not moving."

"It's not attacking!"

"Why is it so calm?"

The scientist followed the Mesmerize's gaze and glanced at Ellone. He glanced at the animal again, then looked back at Ellone.

"Ellone? Are you all right?"

"I…" she blinked, her eyes still wide, and nodded. "Yes, but…what's the matter with it? Why is it acting like that? It's _staring_ at me."

The scientist rubbed the back of his head and glanced at the beast. "To be honest…I'm not sure. That's the first time I've ever seen a creature like that act so calm."

The Mesmerize whickered and blinked, but it remained still.

The two men in the pen with it finally came to their senses and immediately muzzled it, then secured the black collar around its neck and lead it away. Surprisingly, the animal didn't resist, and it was led towards the back of the pen through a door, out of sight.

Nobody spoke for a long while. Slowly, the heads in the room began to turn and some of the scientists were watching Ellone with curiosity.

Ellone blinked and swallowed, feeling afraid. She glanced at her escort, who was rubbing the back of his head in thought, at a loss for words.

"Maybe we should go," she uttered in a small voice. "I think I've seen enough for one day."

The scientist nodded, glanced at the empty pen, and nodded again. "Yes. Yes, I think you're right. I'm sorry that you had to see that…it was pretty strange…that usually doesn't happen…"

As they shuffled out, Ellone was staring at the floor, troubled. "Yes…strange…"

A few other scientists were watching them, but most of the returned to their work, shrugging off the bizarre behavior as nothing more than the actions of a spooked Mesmerize.

"Uh…it's possible…maybe it was tracking," the scientist suggested. "Sometimes monsters like that will search for prey, or when ganged up in a manner like that, they attack the weakest one of the group first…"

If he was trying to make her feel better, it wasn't working. The Mesmerize's yellow eyes burned into her memory, blinking, eerily calm…

…almost as if it was trying to talk to her…

She tried to shake the image from her mind. It was just a monster, after all. It was the first one she'd seen since the Lunar Cry. Of course it would scare her.

…_the weakest one of the group?_

Ellone swallowed. "Yes…that's probably it…how silly…"

"How about we get something to drink? A cup of hot chocolate, perhaps? Then I'll take you to President Loire's office. Is that all right?"

She looked up and forced a smile. It was amazing how she was still very much treated like a little girl, yet she had been a woman for many years. "Yes, that sounds fine. I'm afraid President Loire is out on business, but we can still have the hot chocolate. Thank you so much for everything you've done today."

. . .

After a few early-morning drills and a quick cup of coffee, Squall was walking through the quad by himself when he heard a high-pitched whine coming from the outside gates of Garden. He turned, slowly making his way to the front entrance, and noticed a large black helicopter stationed in the clearing. The large top blades and back rotor started to spin faster and faster as the whine of the engine increased, and several SeeDs were standing single-file, saluting to a short, stout, balding man as he briefly saluted back and got into the chopper.

"Where do you think _he's_ going?"

Squall glanced behind him. Seifer was watching Cid enter the helicopter with his brows furrowed.

"Seifer. What're you doing up so early?"

"Fuckin' Galbadian routine. I can't sleep in anymore."

Squall snorted. "Sucks to be in charge, eh?"

"Can't complain too much. Quistis likes it, since I get up with her now. Besides, I swear to Hyne there's some sort of crazy-ass cockatrice perched outside of her window. It was cuckoo-ing and caw-ing all fuckin' night long. Next time I see Kinneas, I'm gonna ask him to shoot that thing."

Squall turned back to the helicopter and watched as it started to lift off the ground, flattening the grass with the billowing wind the blades created.

"I think he's going to Centra."

"To see Edea?"

Squall nodded.

"Did he leave you in charge?"

Squall shrugged. "He didn't say anything to me. I guess it's up to both of us, for now, at least until Xu comes back."

Seifer snorted. "Xu. Where the hell _is_ she-man, anyway?"

"She's been back and forth. Right now she's in Trabia."

"Diplomacy shit?"

"Yep."

"Hrm."

They both watched the black helicopter as it rose higher and higher into the air and slowly turned south, gaining speed, until it appeared as a black speck in the sky.

"It's not like him to just up and leave like that," Seifer pointed out.

Squall didn't reply.

"Do you think he's…you know…anxious about what's going on?"

Squall set his jaw. Normally, any mention of sorceress business would trigger an unnecessary fight between them, but Squall remained silent. Seifer had a point. Cid had scheduled an unexpected departure.

"…I don't know."


End file.
